"So this is where you have been. We had wondered where you would go after you left but to think you would become a warlock of all things." The tallest Paladin said in a condescending way while looking down his nose at Sasha.
"The Old Man of Broken Chains is on my side on this so please, just don't start. It will cost you nothing to bite your tongue and act your age so just don't." She said in response.
They had arrived in the morning, fifteen Paladins, each and every last one. All of them trained to fight for what is right and completely loyal to the order. No questions asked and no chances given. A soldier meant for killing and unleashed with all their power to throw into whatever fight they happen to be in.
The most dangerous thing about them is that they could walk through their own area of effect spells. It is really easy to get killed when you have to sword fight a master while blocking or dodging a rain of ice. To fight an army when they healed constantly and your side just got more and more fatigued as the battle went on. It was like this that they could kill far larger forces with little effort.
There were fifteen of them here and each and every one of them was arrogant as can be. Each one of them the veteran of a hundred wars and a thousand battles. If they so choose they could easily drag her back to the temple and make her answer whatever questions they saw fit. She was not strong enough to fight them and even her stone fire blood would only slow them down for a little bit. That said there were two reasons that they had yet to do so.
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The first was where they had met. Of all the places in the world to stop them cold the group had picked the very best one. A cursed mage shop! Filled with who knows what and all sorts of nicknacks. Even a random curse if placed discretely enough would kill them all before it could be found and identified for a counterspell to be used. And that was only if they could make it out the door before their bones melted or their skeletons decided to ditch their meat suits. It was for very good reasons that few messed with cursed mages in their own homes.
The second reason was that they did in fact have a direct word from their god to not start anything! That was not something that was given without cause and disobeying it would mean going and spitting in the face of said god. Sure they could do it but no one wanted to be the first to step up to that plate. It would not have stopped them from dragging her back to the order to answer whatever questions they wanted from her, but it would have stopped them from just killing her outright and calling it justice.
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"How about we just pray to The God of Broken Chains and see if you are telling the truth then, what do you say about that?"
"It won't work," Neka responded. She did not want them to freak out and start breaking things in her new home.
"What do you mean it won't work, of course it will work, we are the best paladins our god has to offer." A young fool said as if his word was the law of the world.
"There are many spells to silence anything going out in case an item has some kind of sound effect. It will even take prayers because some beings use items to gather power like that. Of course, we had the place spelled for every eventuality." Tea said in such a way that it became clear she was treating him like a small child rather quickly.
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It was at this point that everyone looked at Smithy, it may have had something to do with the fact that he was openly mixing up a batch of acids and muttering about how fast armor would melt. He looked up when everything went quiet and after a moment of time said, "Not your armor, of course, just general armor."
Nobody believed him for even a minute. They also edged away from their weapons and some ever unstrapped them before placing them outside of arms reach. The last thing they wanted was to fight a crazed alchemist in a cursed mage's shop while being cut off from their god. That was a very quick way to die and after surviving so many fights over the years they knew a losing bet when they saw one.
"Fine, why were we called here, you could have just dropped off the grid or moved to the other side of the continent instead of trying to make nice with us." The oldest of the group said. When someone like him talked the other listened if only to hear what he had to say.
"Because we wanted to stay here or the area at least and because we did not want you to foul us up when things hit the fan. Better to get all this unpleasantness out of the way early instead of waiting around." Sasha said. He was the one that had taught her how to fight. The hardest part was trying to teach her how to heal others and watching her fail time after time. It was just something that she could not do properly. Sure she could keep someone alive if there was no one else there to do the job but it would take a while to fix the after effect of it.
She could heal herself like few could manage with potions to aid them, even reaching her limbs as they found out when a boy tried to cripple her for stubbing his advances. He suspected that she could even regrow them if she learned enough about herself. No, what really set her apart from others was the fact that she could keep going long after others had exhausted themselves. Sure she would eventually collapse and sleep for days, but so long as the fight went on she would still be standing.
Others she had been taught with could rain lightning while they fought, she just never fell and blows that should have killed her always seemed to miss by a hairs margin. If she had called them here then it was not for nothing that was for sure.
"I want to make nice with the order but I will not be going back if that is what you are asking. I want to walk my own path and fight my own battles, not the ones that pay the best for the order. Not the ones that will just see more orphans for the order to train. That is not my way." She said with such conviction that even the old man had to admire it. It was too bad that the young fool did not.
"And why should we allow that? You should be made to fight in the worst wars on the plane to make up for turning you back on our god."
"Shut up boy, if I hear anything else from you we will have words, am I understood." A Paladin with more muscle them most said.
"We could allow that if you would be willing to make deals with us. That is what your patron does if I am not mistaken." The old man said to her ignoring the whispered conversation going on in the background.
"What kind of deals are we talking about here?" Drassisa said she wanted to know what they were getting in for with this and where it was going.
"We will work that out when the time comes. For now, just know that it will come, and depending on how things go from here on out, we can come to an understanding between the order and your group." He responded.
"Deals struck for favors owed? I think that we can do that. Let's say that we each owe the other ten such favors now and see how things play out. We can call them at any time and use build them for aiding the other with information or the like, what say you?" Embrda asked.
"It is a good start, let's see where it goes from here." The old paladin said while offering his hand for Sasha to shake. When she did so they felt a force flow through the room and envelop them.
The Bargain was struck and only a fool would break it lightly. The chance they took had been a success that was for sure.