Fifteen years I've been guard captain, and twenty years before that I was just a regular guardian. But never in my time have I dealt with a man as horrible as deacon David. I've guarded and interacted with some unscrupulous individuals during my time, and I've learned that the priest hood isn't very priestly. Still no one holds a candle to some of the things I've heard about deacon David. Thankfully I've not had to deal with any of those kinds of things in my three weeks of guarding him. This man goes through guards like it's a race to see how fast he can get them to quit or transfer out, and captains are no exception. If it weren't for the fact I'd be transferred to a new post after this I may have taken the man's head off myself long before this expedition started.
But I can only bitch to myself so much, still, if he hadn't run his mouth to that 'cardinal' this little trip would have never happened, and I wouldn't be stuck here. This whole trip has been nothing but a disaster. First the man insists on only high quality food for the entire trip, which isn't possible without hunting it on the spot. Which is why I have teams go out regularly to bring back decent food, at least the men enjoy the leftover meat, so it helps keep morale up. Second, he bitches about constantly having to move around. How else are we supposed to find the night stripe? Then to top it all off, he incessantly bitches about the hunters I've hired not being willing to do his bidding. If he gropes that female hydromancer on the ass again I don't know if cool heads will prevail.
"Excuse me sir." A voice comes from the flap of my tent.
"Report?" I reply.
"The team sent out hunting for food still hasn't returned and the sun disappear behind the mountains. Should we send some search parties out?" The man outside asks.
I curse to myself under my breath, first the tracker gets killed, then a man gets blown up by a blast plant, and now an entire group is missing. My years of experience tell me this isn't any coincidence, something is very wrong here. It's going to have something to do with those damn bush things.
"No, double the night watch. Pull the hunters in if you need to. If they complain, tell them I don't want any nasty surprises." I say.
The voice doesn't reply, instead the sound of footsteps moving away from my tent fades away through the tent flap. This isn't good, I wanted to retreat after we lost the tracker but the deacon insisted on staying. Then again, this is the man who snubbed my advice to hire a second tracker because it was an 'unnecessary' expense. It's a miracle I managed to get two hunter groups in the budget. A miracle we are probably going to need. I studied up on the fauna and flora of this region before we set out, it is important to know what you're dealing with after all. But not once in any of the books, records, or accounts of hunters was anything resembling a bush creature mentioned.
It's a double edged sword, a new, unknown creature could bring all of us a fair amount of fortune and glory if its discovery was attached to our names. The deacon might even be let off the hook if he phrased his involvement as an agent of the cardinal or church as a whole. The hunters were particularly salivating at the prospect of being involved. New monsters are very, very rare, but when found, it's a prestigious achievement to be attached to the discovery, even if only in name.
But that leads to the other edge, new monsters are unknown, completely unknown. You don't know how many different ways the damned thing could kill you, but I know from experience it's a lot. How it acts, how it fights, how it nests, if it runs in groups, you know none of it. Unfortunately, with the tracker dead that might be the deacon's only prospect for 'repentance', because there is no way in the nine's furry we are going to catch that night stripe. Everyone would certainly rejoice at the change, the hunter would certainly be more agreeable, and if I pitch it to the deacon in a way that makes it seem like he'll come out on top, it will be easy. But everyone's good sense will be clouded by the excitement, some of them definitely won't be coming home from the capture attempt. Then again, I've already lost six men and the tracker, maybe it's a question of how many more have to die before this is over? The sound of footsteps approaching my tent interrupts my thoughts.
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“Sir, the Deacon would like a word with you.”
“Tell him I’m on my way.”
As the man leaves I start to gather my things. This is going to be a dreadful meeting, he probably is going to go off about his dinner not being ready or sub par. But I can probably use that to my advantage. I’ve dealt with clergy enough to know how to dance around their anger. Maybe tomorrow we'll finally have something worth coming out here for.
…………….
Resnorv (Human, Level 55 Priest)
“My children, the nine smile upon us today! The gods have gifted the world with a new creation! Our faith has been rewarded as they have chosen to inform the world of its deliverance to us! We shall accept this blessing, and bring their will back with us to the rest of the world! Let us go forth and bring their newest creation to the eyes of civilized society, so that all may know of the newest gift they have bestowed upon the world! All praise the great nine! Their presence gives our world form, their will gives us purpose, and their grace gives us all we hold dear! May their light shine for all time!”
“All praise the great nine! Their presence gives our world form, their will gives us purpose, and their grace gives us all we hold dear! May their light shine for all time!” The crowd retorts.
“We have lost many brothers and sisters on this mission already, may their spirits rest above. A dangerous undertaking this may be, but we will persevere! With the blessings from those above we shall set forth to deliver their will to all others! Let us go my children, fortune and glory await the faithful!”
With the the final part of his speech the deacon lowers his hands, finishing the cast for the mass blessing spell. It’s five points in every attribute, a major boon for the operation ahead. As the blessing finishes all the listeners stand from their kneeling pray positions and immediately break into ruckus and cheers. I would have expected no less from the hunters, but it seems our guardians will need a light reminder to remain professional in front of superiors. But that will come later, for now morale must remain high. There is a good chance that at least a few of them won't make it back. But they know this, even with all the excitement I’m sure it’s gnawing around in the backs of their minds. I for one both wonder and dread how many condolence letters I will have to write once this is done.
Convincing the man to change our objective was easy enough. Convincing him to give a blessing was much harder, and I had to pull out all the tricks from my years of experience to get the point across. Do we absolutely need the blessing? No, we could probably succeed in capturing a live specimen even without. But it’s worth it to be able to bring a few more of my boys home. Even now I can see the deacon grit his teeth as he gets off the crate he used as a makeshift platform, most likely angry at the masses' unruliness.
“My apologies deacon Resnorv, the men and hunters seem to be over eager for the hunt. But this works to your advantage, now they will dive right in and you may be out of this forest sooner.” I say to the deacon while giving him a bow.
“I shall overlook this minor slight in the name of our success, but I expect results Stalt. Do not fail me or waste my blessings. I expect this to be done by the end of the day so that I can leave this nine forsaken place tomorrow morning.”
“Of course good deacon, thank you for your kindness.”
With that he turns and heads for his tent without another word. I don’t know how any one puts up with him, I feel bad for the poor five souls I have to leave behind to tend him and guard while we get this done. But hopefully it will be worth it once they were back home.