Edited by: tommyjl7, Flubbykin
The village, about which Marie told us about, was relatively close to the Bald Mountain, facing a few difficulties on the road we managed to reach it by the following morning. Yet, something looked different, wrong even.
Villagers in most cases have very strict plan of the day, they would rise with the sun and would finish their job as it would start setting down. It already was about two hours after sunrise, yet barely anyone was walking across it. No house wife was gossiping by the fence with her friend, no one was pumping water from the well. Every now and then someone would move in the hurry entering the huge (as for village standards) chapel in front of village mayor house. And the blacksmith. Blacksmith with dark shades over his eyes, which betrayed that he was working for the whole night, was hammering piece of iron. But he wasn’t preparing hammers, nails or horseshoe, no, he was finishing spearheads, arrows and swords. And guessing by the pile behind his back, he was arming whole village.
- “I smell trouble…” Lana whistled under her nose
- “Why? Because group of armed people is gathering in the chapel?... And because priests instead of lecturing about forgiveness and unity is blessing them and telling that
We opened the massive door to the chapel. As soon as we did, we saw dozens of people sitting in the benches listening to the voice of priest behind the altar. Strangely, behind him five other men were standing.
Guessing by their posture, their equipment and scars here and there, they were no villagers. They wore reinforced leather suits, even better and more expensive than Gisele (though Gis did not spare a single coin when it came to treating her equipment) and had silver blades by their belts.
Appraisal time.
NameJasper StevikktLevel22ClassHunter of the NightJobTrapper of [Brotherhood of the Dawn]Skills- Night Vision [Passive] [Level 2]
- Creature of the Light [Passive] [Level NA]
- Sword Usage - Regular [Passive/Active] [Level 12]
- Tracker [Passive] [Level 12]
- Zealot [Passive] [Level 5]
Status effectsCreature of the Light- Str +5
- END +5
- VIT +5
- DEX +5
- RFX +5
Excited- DEX +3
- RFX +3
- INT -3
- WIS -3
DescriptionAfter vampire slaughter his entire village, he was adopted and raised by [Brotherhood of the Dawn] - zealots of Luxia which devoted their life to hunt beasts and monsters.
Jasper loves helping people not only with his blade, but also on regular basis. Maybe because he treasures smile on faces of other people, or maybe because he tries to remember how it was like to have a normal life
Que!? What is this class and skills?!
[Creature of the Light]- User of this skill gets stronger when fighting in daylight
- User of this skill is more effective while fighting users of [Creature of the Night] skill
[Hunter of the Night]- Faction influenced class (can be only obtained by members of the [Brotherhood of the Dawn])
- Skilled in tracking down unholy creatures, [Hunters of the Night] can literally sense the creatures touched by corruption
- “Unfortunately, our brother Johan, was touched by the powers of evil. Or should I say, he no longer exists. Johan as we knew is forever gone, because tell me, would Johan that we know kill our animals? Hurt our families? No. The evil took shape of our brother in order to harm our humble society, this is why we need to stand up and protect ourselves! With help of Brotherhood of the Dawn we shall triumph over forced of the night and…”
In that moment priest noticed us and roar with the voice of thunder
- “Here came the witch that brought this misfortune upon us! She came to feast her eyes upon our misery, she…”
- “Brother Kenzie, if you would mind…” Jasper, the man I just appraised had an ugly grimace all the time priest was speaking. Apparently he didn’t like the rhetoric of shaveling “… I doubt that she did that on purpose. She also returned which means she wants to atone her sins, she may possess vital knowledge about the spell we could you…”
I think I begin to like that young kid. He may be a zealot, but he is not a fanatic that wish to burn everything on his path.
- “Can’t you see she wants to trick us!? Don’t let her innocent form mislead you and…”
- “I have seen the man you call Johan and power of the curse. Now, as I see the girl in front of me I can assure you that she is lacking power to cast spell a tenth as strong as that. So, if you would mind… SHUTTING YOUR TRAP… and letting us work, we would appreciate your contribution.”
Another member of brotherhood, much older than Jasper, chuckled.
- “Hey, Jaspy, we were supposed to not interfere with politics of village. We are here just to kill the monster.”
Jasper pouted displeased.
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- “Hey, who are you guys…” same older hunter pointed at us with tip of his blade “… I am afraid that we are lacking time so we have no time for courtesy. You have ten seconds to answer or…”
- “Pst, Zari, mind if we would make a little scene?” Lana whispered
- “Sure, give me a good show.” I nodded slightly
For a split of second Lana smiled widely to me, than her expression changed. Madness and fury are the words that couldn’t nearly describe her facial expression.
- “Y-you dare to point your blade at us?!” she yelled with tone of pure hatred “… BOW YOUR HEAD, YOU SCUM, YOU FACE THE ORACLE OF AIRA! The bringer of her words! The Nature unbound!” she raised her staff in the air and slammed it into floor of the chapel, making the thunder-like noise resonate across the spacious building.
- “… As… As far as I know Aira did not cho…”
- “WATCH YOUR TONGUE OR HAVE IT CUT FROM YOUR HEA…” I put my hand on her shoulder
- “It’s ok…” I said with the tone of purest calmness, serenity even.
- “Your majesty! I can’t agree with that! To dishonor you with such a vulgar act of violence…!”
- “Forgive them, for they know not what they are doing. It’s a duty of a child to learn by mistakes, and it is mother’s joy to show them the proper path… and I also ask you for forgiveness…” this time I pointed my head toward hunters “… my friend tends to react a bit quickly when I am being offended. And you were right, up until now, Mother did not chose her messenger. Until the night two days ago.”
- “Three moons, huh? Cursed night… have too much magic in it.” Leader of hunters almost spat on the ground, yet stopped reminding himself that he is still in blessed place
- “Three moons? Cursed night, you say?” I titled my head to the side “… my,my. I think I will allow Lanele yell a little bit more. This is the most sacred night, because of it your crops will grow faster, because of it your animals will not catch disease and your women will give birth to stronger offspring. Yet you call it curse?”
- “Crap! That’s not what I meant! Of course we are grateful for your hard work, dru… oracle. But the magic effects also other beings, not only crops and cattle. We arrived here yesterday, yet power of the moon gave the monster power to crush his chains, hurt dozen of villagers and flee into the forest.”
- “I see.”
- “Mind if I ask you… Oracle… what is the reason of your arrival?” the way he called my title suggest that he still does not believe if I am really who I claim to be
- “This child…” I pointed at Marie “… and deeds she has done. I came to undo them.”
- “If I may know… why? Why do you care for a single individual in some tiny village?’
- “I almost want to ask you the same.” I smiled politely, yet he right away saw through my smile.
- “We are orphans, widows and widowers , that lost their lives because of monsters. We are traveling the whole world looking for these. No matter if its succubus in middle of the town, an imp at the edge of the world. We will eventually come for all of these. Your turn… your majesty.” He added after seeing Lana death-glare
- “Once again. This child. You may not know, but she spent last month trying to redo her actions. She visited altars and sacred groves trying to learn the spell which would allow her to bring her lover back. She even came to the bald mountain hoping the power of the night would help her finish it. No matter how many times she failed, she never stopped trying. For last month she suffered greatly, not to REPENT, but to FIX it.” I made a short pause “… Mother loves those who chase after perfection, she is proud of those who sacrifice themselves in order to push their skills on another level. She helps those, who are helping themselves. This is why I am here. To reward her struggles.”
- “I think… it will be best if we would discuss this matter with them.” Jasper whispered to his leader.
- “Of course, not only do we need to question the witch about the nature of the curse… we also need to avoid offending that man that calls himself the Oracle. If he truly is one then offending him could bring more curses. And more curses is the last thing we want right now.”
Curse? When I appraised my status there was no information about me getting any defensive ability that came with new title. Was that just a lie spread across the world in order to prevent people from harming Oracles? Most likely, similar beliefs were spread in medieval Europe. Royalty was being crowned by high rank priest, preferably pope, in order to make everyone think that he rules thanks to will of the god. Yes, when god was involved peasants started to work dramatically more efficient.
Neat.
- “But… but the people have already gathered! They are ready to ward off the evil!” priest once again raised his voice
- “Then you can tell them, that as much as we appreciate their will to aid us, their help is no longer necessary. You must be happy that your sheep will meet no harm, aren’t you?”
Leader of brotherhood eyed worshiper of Luxia with cold glare, which made him take step back and stumble.
- “B-but we can’t be sure that this… traveler… speaks truth! He may be just…”
- “And how do YOU want to check if he speaks the truth?” Jasper hissed “… Oh, I have great idea! Let’s put him on the pyre and burn him down, that’s what you were thinking about?!”
- “N-no, my lord…”
- “Then tell me, what clever test did you prepare?”
- “…none, my lord.”
- “In that case maybe you will allow US to check it?”
- “Y-yes, my lord.”
- “In that case, it already was checked.”
- “Jasper?” older man once again asked his trapper
- “I can’t be sure, but I do sense his aura. I met a few Nature users before. I almost can’t sense existence of these girls behind him, it is that overwhelming.”
- “It’s settled then. Mayor, can we borrow your house for the moment?” older member of the brotherhood asked gray-haired old man
- “O-of course! You are helping us so much, that I would never dare to refuse!”
He didn’t say that because of fear, but respect.
- “In that case… I would be… honored… to discuss recent events with you… Oracle.”
Oh, the way leader spoke was simply adorable! It was clear that he was a simple man, that never spoke to anyone with respect. He was literally lacking proper words to address those with higher status than themselves. If my predictions are correct I already know how to get on his good side.
- “If I read your intention correctly, I will allow myself to wait by mayor’s house.”
- “Please do.” He sighed with gratitude
We turned around and left, moving toward building on the other side of “plaza” if you could call round piece of ground in the middle of village like that. As soon as we shut the door and made first three steps, thanks to enchanted hearing I overheard Jasper whispering:
- “Yes, his nature affinity is tremendous, but for a moment there I thought I felt devil dwelling within him.”
How could he… Crap. I completely forgot about her. Zanez. Stupid succubus still laying dormant in the mark on my forearm.
I will need to make a good excuse for that if they would pry upon this. And I am sure they would.