With the bag of pigment in hand, I strolled straight past the half-asleep guards. I didn’t have to even be faintly sneaky. The Adle boy certainly did not leave his A team behind. I stopped in my tracks, the Adle boy, yes, he had made a deal with something, that much I could tell. And this entity did not pop up until his unwanted visit. Mabey I should talk to Guillemot, he should know something. The boy, Eike was his name. Eike should not have been naïve enough to leave behind six soldiers to guard such a large camp of enemies. Even though they were wounded, one hundred men could still kill six lightly armed soldiers.

Suddenly a thought struck me, that failed assassin did not show up until after Eike passed through, and the cleric even mentioned some creature helping him. Now that I think about it, that smell of sin that wafted off him did smell faintly like that one institution, and he did not appear until the cleric arrived to be treated. Hmm, I’m starting to think that letting Eike walk away with his life was the wrong move. Not only did the kid possibly work with the institution that is really starting to tick me off, he also probably invited some entity to come frolic in my territory. This was all speculation so far though; I will need to do some investigation before I act. But first things first, it’s time to give Rudolf a red nose.

It took a day and a night for the intruder to pop back up. An ugly son of a gun, with a face that not even its mother could love. It shuffled its ugly twisted form out of Eike’s camp. The thing was fatter than an ogre, with enough cushioning to survive a bullet. Its head and neck practically combined with its body to give it an egg-like appearance. Greyish skin and a mouth stretching ear to ear gave me a good idea of what this creature did for a living. A corpse eater, basically the vultures of the spirit realm. My feelings towards the creature mellowed out a bit at this realization.

Corpse eaters were actually quite pleasant, despite their unpleasant name. They mainly feasted on rotting carrion and corrupted energy, rarely causing a ruckus. With their feeding habits, they even prevent the formation of undead and prevent litches from becoming a problem. Losing my previous plan of ripping and tearing the thing to bits, I unveiled my presence and went to have a talk to the thing. It turned a set of three beady black eyes to me before tilting its head in curiosity. I didn’t let its dumb appearance fool me; they were smart creatures.

Before I could get a word in, its jaw slammed open, and a black tongue shot towards my head. It was an attack that I easily avoided by simply leaning my head to the side. Now, this was unnatural behavior for a corpse eater. I let my previous experiences cloud my vision a bit, I’m in an entirely new world, a world that so far has thrown a wrench into my previous worldview. I defaulted back to plan A and launched a counterattack.

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Before it could retract its tongue, I grabbed the blackened muscle and pulled hard. The corpse eater was thrown off balance and began to stumble forward. Quickly closing the short distance between us, I grabbed its big bulbous head and slammed it down into the dirt. A show of dominance seemed to be necessary here. I brought a clawed finger to its left eye and began to carefully gouge it out. The creature struggled desperately tried to throw me off, but its bountiful fat rolls restricted its agility and dexterity to a pitiful level.

It soon figured out that its current efforts were futile, so it turned to its other weapon, its magic. It opened its mouth unnaturally large, and I could sense it preparing for an attack. Deciding to stay on the safe side I grabbed its well-hidden throat and ravaged it with a flurry of claws. Blackish green blood oozed onto my hand as I ripped through a few arteries. A searing pain erupted from my side, in fury, I whipped my arm back and sent the new opponent flying.

Using the momentum of my previous attack, I tensed and sent that potential energy right into another devastating claw swipe. The top of the corpse eater’s head vanished, and its struggles ceased. I went to tear at its throat, but my mask got in the way. In frustration I slammed my balled fists into the thing's stomach, causing its grotesque belly to pop like a bubble. With rage only mounting, I turned to destroy the opponent who got a lucky shot off. But the commotion of my little tussle woke up most of the camp, forcing me to duck into the shadows.

I had the image of a harmless doctor to maintain after all. As I walked or crawled would be a more apt description, I realized that what I just did was very out of character. I only wanted to interrogate the bulbous creature, not kill it. I quietly pushed the long grass to the side and inspected the small pond in front of me.

Muddy, with no sign of bizarreness, just how I like it. I carefully and cautiously placed one foot in front of the other, peering into the muddy depths of the small pool of water. I had learned long ago of the dangers that water-dwelling critters could inflict. Many a time a bunyip has tried to drag me into a watery tomb. Steadily, I dipped one foot, then the other. Careful to not even leave a ripple of my presence. It seems that fight brought out my paranoia. I could clearly not sense any danger within these waters, I could even see through the mud, nothing but a few tadpoles. I was just being stupid. But I could not help but reflect back to times when I was still but an item on the menu. Still figuring out the brutal world I had been flung into. Heh, I guess that's not too far off of where I have currently found myself.