3 days after Bradford talked to Torren.
Marlin POV.
It had been surreal to see the impact of Bradford ‘fixing’ the situation.
Well more or less.
The reveal that 2 countries were most likely beginning to gauge whether or not they should invade, was another beast altogether. Marlin had felt so stupid for freaking out like he had.
Hearing his dad confirm that the constable had much bigger things to worry about then one random warrior. Especially if that warrior happened to be the son of a big powerful Champion crusader…
Well it had made him feel like a tiny fish in a big pond. To make matters more weird, by some freak accident his antics had brought it all out far earlier then what one would expect of these situations, spies were well trained in Avalonia. Bradford had shared some of the antiquated techniques he had uncovered in his younger years.
The T’jut tribesmen looked at him with a newfound respect, for having ‘sensed’ the storm coming. Even the stares he received from the Kin in the ond occasion he came to town had been of awe even some respectful nods. Sure some were mourning having a loved one hanged but the general consensus was that if it wasn’t for Marlin’s conduct this would have been discovered too late.
Marlin was not really grasping how quickly the masses had started to see him in such a different light.
Marlin had gone back to hunting boars. Fully decked out in new armor. with a light weight but sturdy brigandine armor and a solid helmet.
No horns sadly enough, to his own and his minions lament. The tribe and his parents would require about a month to get things sorted before they could make the move.
So he figured it was time to do some hunting. Some potions, his battered shield, trusty axe and his 3 throwing axes.
He was on the hunt for boars, he had already slain two today and that was already an incredible accomplishment, but he was hopeful something more challenging would come he was about half stamina. He was closing in on an area where a straggler orc had been spotted.
Orc’s looked like Utt but belonged to what was referred to as the ‘nameless’.
apparently committing crimes could get you a celestial curse.
The way the people acted in this world especially towards certain types of crime started to make a bit more sense.
Celestial curses were a complete enigma to this world. you could get them if you did something truly hurtful, sadistic or evil. Like the curse of lust, or the curse of depravity.
how you would get these was a Mystery, but there were a whole slew of them. Some people gained them seemingly only cheating on someone once, others gained them after Multiple offenses. The Tarrani woman, had apparently been affected by a curse of lust.
You could get rid of the curse, but that was very costly. A Celestial curse could lay dormant or could flare and from Honor less you would go to Nameless, Lifeless or Soulless. Each varying degrees of bad.
Marlin didn’t know what to make it this new information. The curse of lust was the one he struggled with the most, he could come up with a whole slew of situations where it could more or less be understood, perhaps not condoned but understood.
”and that’s me saying that, me the guy that got cheated on”. Marlin thought.
He was told it was directly linked to the act of cheating that much was known and was considered the most benign.
There were easy ways to check if you had it and after about a year a priest or cleric could check you to make sure you were no longer effected it meant you had to go celibate for prolonged periods of times, and if you no longer had it, it could lead to you coming back into society.
Those were the ‘honor less’, let back in town that he had seen walking around. The social stigma however, would haunt you for the rest of your life.
That was the best case scenario, most people once they had the curse couldn’t really control their urges anymore, most likely it would turn into a curse of depravity if left unchecked, or if you were really letting yourself go, a curse of evil. Once that happened you would transform into what this world classified as monster. A nameless, a lifeless or a soulless.
monsters were created by your own actions it seemed so fair on paper yet it felt unfair, it seemed punishing and judgmental.
Until Bradford told him how far someone had to go, to ever get to that point. Everyone had value. Your emotions had value, everything you did had value.
Karma. He realized this was karma. And once you had accumulated too much negative karma you would turn into a monster.
Unlike like gnolls or beasts who didn’t have a system. These monsters had a different system One that worked on inflicting pain, murder or eat the corpses of the living. Yea it got into some really creepy shit.
He started wondering if the God of earth was really so ‘terrible’.
“who the hell came up with these curses”? Marlin thought. Sadanis cackling and the snickering of a female? Echoed through his mind.
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”great im starting to loose my mind”, Marlin thought.
Marlin felt an intense need to gain levels. After feeling so small and powerless.
He had only been at it for real for 2-3 months so far as a freebooter and by his estimates considering he had hunted roughly 30 boars for that, that was 1 boar every 2-3 days, Gaining anywhere between 80-120.
Meant he needed another 180-190 days little over 9 months before he would hit lvl 2.
Then he would have to hunt something about 4 times as dangerous if he wanted to keep that same pace. Not that he was worried, his tried and true tactic brought most boars down within about 20 seconds once they started charging.
Boars had thick skin and a bit less hitpoints then him but getting stabbed, shot and rammed by his 4 minions who could wail on the boar while Marlin kept it blindly enraged and focused on him, made a tricky fight quick and easy.
The 100 xp he got, begun to feel unearned but realized this was a way to reward clever tactics. That was supposed to be a 10% chance of him dying, taken in a vacuum.
Marlin wondered how the system took his minions into account. Supposedly the way 99.99% of tyrant/dark lords fought was to send their minions in as cannon fodder. Which meant they often died and got physically reconstructed by the overlord discipline. Marlin felt every fiber of his being opposed to that. His lovable Minions deserved better then harsh callous abuse.
His thoughts wandered back to Milly.
“Take 5 guys and you can all have some of the meat gathered, splendid job so far” he told the gnolls who didn’t need to be told twice. They got to work vigorously skinning the second boar.
Milly had been distant ever since the interrogation. He wasn’t really sure why. Kotak told him she was dealing with the fact that the old seamstress, that had taken Milly under her wing, turned out, had most likely been a spy. Milly needed time to come to grips with that.
Marlin knew better, she was struggling more and more with his brazen idiocy. Marlin hadn’t relied on the fact that Bradford was an absolute powerhouse. Capable of quite a bit of political sway when needed.
He wondered how much Milly thought he relied on that. Truth be told Marlin started to realize how large the shadow and shoulders of Bradford truly were. He himself had never left them, still in the playground for children.
Marlin hadn’t gone to the hangings, he felt responsible in a way. Seeing their dead bodies would do him no good. Even though most were hung for treason. It had been 5 so far.
Without Bradford’s sway that would have been him and probably Milly too, he knew that. Nothing could convince Marlin otherwise, not even the assurance’s of his parents or the T’jut.
”if you are all so sure why not stay”? He asked. That had brought a very uncomfortable silence and the matter was dropped.
Marlin flopped down.
He had gotten Milly into serious trouble, it started really driving into him, how stupid he had been. His mouth just wouldn’t stop once it went.
He knew he had to make it up to her. He concluded his half cocked idea of hunting down an orc was not the way to start.
He sighed. How was he going to fix this ? He wasn’t scared of dying but he realized Milly might not like the idea, she was the normal one.
Well the cunning yandere that was into his kind off crazy, type,
but he had noticed how things had changed subtly. He could tell his reckless behavior was getting to her.
Right now what was he planning? Go find something dangerous to fight. An Orc usually reserved for a lvl 3 party what was he thinking? Since when did he get so impulsive? He was calculated. Well he still was but in a very impulsive way.
“Alright boys time to head back, can’t keep the Mistress waiting”.
Marlin decided in hindsight, fighting a monster that was akin to Bron didn’t really feel like the smartest idea.
Marlin had already been walking for about an hour back to the cabin of his parents, when the snap of a tree branch caused him to raise his shield just in time to block a stony club to the face. A roar split through the air as two more vicious blows came in, one slipping past his guard luckily it was in a non critical area and his new armor absorbed some of the force.
Marlin was proud how quickly his minions jumped to action. Billy shook their spoils off and charged. The gnolls. Jumped in and barraged the Orc with his sickening glee, he looked at them licking his chops. He looked indeed like a T’jut but feral and about as ugly as they came.
Marlin jumped into action and barraged the Orc with taunts. One hit of that crude club in the powerful claws of that orc would end his minions life in a heartbeat.
tyranic taunts: ooooooo look at this pathetic little shit! Not even your mother could love you with that face!
The orc grinned “you are cute little man”. It growled back in tyrant speech
tyranic taunts: ooooow, you fuck your mommy! That makes sense only your mom could look past the crime scene of your face!
he/she? Flung her gnarly club into Marlin’s shield. Marlin was pushed back and had to ressort to blocking, his arm felt sore from the ringing vibrations of the club. The orc was an experienced combatant for sure even though Marlin had him in a deadlock he still ducked and weaved out the way of Gary barraging him with arrows.
In a moment where the orc tried to catch its breath Barry the chad lands a vicious stab in the orcs throat with his spear, Jerry trying to capitalize gets flung away crashing into a bush from the orcs wailing and thrashing.
tyranic taunts: The legends are true boys! Right here, we have a bonafide MOTHERFUCKER!
Marlin keeps taunting the orc and got hit in the helmet for his successful thrashing of the orcs ego.
Marlin barely manage to remain conscious, Screaming: “Nice one Barry extra bacon for you for a week”!
Gary launches another volley keeping the orc on its toes, Billy rams into his stomach but the orc tough, barely took note, Billy jumped back to create distance. Barry again makes a wonderful stab to the chest drawing blood.
Poor Jerry wants his bacon, makes a mistake and almost gets swatted by the club from a backswing as the orc wails on Marlins Shield.
Marlin sees an opening and slams his axe into the Orcs head-dress ringing it’s bell.
Gary lands a few arrows that chip its health away further and this time Jerry yips and jumps onto the orcs back stabbing wildly into its shoulder and one lands straight into the mayor blood vessel in its throat.
the accumulated bloodloss of 2 gaping wounds to its throat, finally registers with the orc and it slumps down into the grass. The gnolls roar: Baaaacooon!!!
Marlin heaving his breath standing tall he casually notes how he lost over half his health and quickly downs one of the 3 healing potions to stem the internal bleeding. He looks at his loyal subjects and grins.
Pride fills his chest. They all performed exceptionally well. That orc might not have had the sheer offensive might of Bron but it had about double the health.
“Damn straight you boys will have bacon! till you all can’t eat any”! He gives them all a big smile until the gnolls gleefully start decapitating the corpse for proof. They believe the witch Mistress will treat them to even more Bacon.
”should i tell them my lord”? Billy stands next to Marlin preening under the headpats.
“Milly will be generous to them, to me…” he let the words hang.
Marlin sighs. “I hope Milly won’t be too upset. Billy nods along. He doesn’t like fire and there is always fire when the Mistress is upset.