Three years have passed since Marionette came to this world. Three years of gathering animals to use in the creation of animated armors. Marionette was given a ring of minor illusion to cover up the fact she wasn't actually human which allowed her to act more freely. Marionette decided to join the adventurers guild in order to help her father financially as well as get better access to resources for use in magic. This included, but was not limited to, monster corpses and even souls.

Marionette was given soul gems and her weapon of choice was enchanted to put the soul of any animal she killed into one. Then all she would have to do is bring the gems back to her father so he could use them to animate armors. Joining the guild wasn't difficult in itself. All it took was waiting in line and filling out paperwork. The only thing she felt bad about is having to lie about her race on the form and register as a human to avoid questions.

Once she was a member of the guild she could officially take quests. However, when it came to doing solo missions, she was forced to stick with ones within her rank. As a “wood” rank adventurer she was only allowed to take wood rank quests unless she registered a party that the guild felt could take on higher level quests or she herself proved she could handle something tougher. Unfortunately for her, a majority of the wood rank quests were gathering supplies from out of town for shops or dealing with local rodent outbreaks.

Marionette knew that any quest that didn't involve killing a monster or at least an animal didn't contribute to the progress of her father's job. Though she would sometimes take supply runs because they were better than nothing, she did her best to keep to kill requests. Then one day, only a few days into her registration, she caught a lucky break. An open extermination guild quest.

An open guild quest is a type of quest where multiple people and parties could do it simultaneously with the rewards being based on the number of a set item turned in. In this case the quest called for the extermination of giant rats in the sewers. Apparently it's a somewhat regular problem that crops up occasionally. So naturally, Marionette signed up for the quest as an individual and when the day came she joined a bunch of other low rank adventurers getting ready to enter the city's sewers.

Most of the people Marionette spotted were also likely lower level adventurers, she could tell by the quality of gear they had on. From what she knew of the guild and what she saw in the guild hall itself, her best guess is the majority of people here were wood and stone rank with a few copper ranked people as well. At best, Marionette expected there to be one or at most three bronze rank adventurers doing this quest simply because they were in the area and had the time.

Then she spotted someone that stood out to her, even among the more unique looking and higher rank adventurers that included non-humans. This person was in full armor that covered his body, pitch black in color. He was a big guy and had four greatswords strapped to his back. The quality of his armor was definitely not something you'd see on a lower rank. As the adventurers waited for the quest manager to give them the briefing before they could get to work, Marionette could overhear a number of people muttering, mermering, and whispering amongst themselves.

Marionette saw one girl point to the man in black armor as she loudly whispered to someone next to her. “Oh my god, it's him. The Black Knight of Riverside.” With the person responding “no way, it's really him.” Marionette had never heard of this man, likely due to not exactly getting out much till recently. “Is that guy some sort of famous high ranking adventurer?” She asked the two.

The girl turned to face Marionette. “He's a bit of an up-in-comer. Apparently he joined the guild just four years ago and despite only officially being Copper rank he's already turned in two high value quests to take out named monsters. Local legends that have felled many an adventurer before him. He's like some sort of fighting prodigy. People are going as far as to call him “The Da Vinci of combat”. Only fourteen and he's already regarded on the same level as an iron or steel rank by some.”

Marionette nodded, only really understanding half of what she was told. The guild manager finally starts the briefing for the quest. “You all read the job posting before signing up, but just in case you didn't I'll explain things fully. We have a giant rat problem in the city sewer. I don't just mean the problem itself is giant, I am talking about the rats themselves as well. An infestation that's gone unchecked. This isn't the first time this has happened and likely won't be the last. When you kill a rat, take its heart and stick it in a bag. For every heart you turn in while this quest is active you'll receive five argentum coins. Groups will be limited to five max and you'll be required to spread out.”

The man then unrolls a map. “We'll be taking multiple points of entry to cover the most ground possible. In addition, I have been told we have two brand new members who signed up for this. Since you've never been in this type of quest before I'll ask for a veteran to volunteer to escort you. This person will not be granted extra compensation.” He then opens a different paper for himself to read. “Would Marionette Abstergo and Ariagoria "Charity" Wrath step up please.”

Marionette walks her way over to the manager and is quickly joined by another woman. She had red skin, horns, a tail, and cloven hooves for feet. She looked like a demon, but was wearing a nun habit with the symbol of the Church of Longinus on it. The manager then gestured to the two ladies. “Do I have any volunteers to take one or both of these ladies under their metaphorical wing?”

A gruff voice comes from somewhere in the crowd but Marionette is unable to spot the source of the voice. “Question for Miss Wrath, are you a cleric?” she stammers “Y-yeah. Life domain, I'm mostly a healer.” The gruff voice then responds “I'll take them both into my party, and no one else. Any more than three people and I would risk them getting in my way.” The manager acknowledges the man's offer. “Well normally I wouldn't allow someone of your rank to take on two greenhorns, but considering your reputation Mr. Aradae, I'll make an exception.”

Marionette and the demonic girl then move to an area to wait for the veteran that volunteered to help them both on his own. Marionette was a bit surprised to find it was the black knight that was pointed out before. Once they registered as a group for this quest the manager placed them at an entrance to start from. Once he left it was just the three of them.

The black knight turned his head to face Marionette as he opened the sewer grate so they could enter. Despite apparently being only fourteen his voice was extremely gruff. “Abstergo was it? Is there any relation to the magic item shop owner Giuseppe?” Marionette was a bit surprised that this adventurer knew about her adoptive father. “Yeah, he's my dad.” The knight nodded. “I bought my first magic item from him right after completing my first quest.” Marionette easily did the math figuring out that his visit would have been about a year before she arrived in this world.

The knight then looked to the red skinned demon nun. “And your demonblood progenitor is Amon, correct?” The girl stammered, obviously surprised by the knight’s question. “He's my dad, actually.” The man moves a bit in an almost jump, surprised by the response. “A first generation demonblood, that's rare.” The girl avoided eye contact with the knight. “That won't be a problem for you, will it?” The man lets out a grunt before replying. “No, it won't. As a beast-kin it would be a little silly for me to give you a hard time for what you were born as.”

From what Marionette could tell, both herself and the demonblood cleric were a bit shocked to learn this person wasn't human. “I see… well I guess we should go in now.” The knight nodded as he was getting ready to crawl into the manhole. But before going in he stopped and looked around and without being prompted shouted out to everyone. “Before I forget, do not under any circumstances use fire to light up an area. It's light magic or nothing unless you want to risk blowing everyone up.” Then he goes in with Marionette and Ariagoria following soon after.

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Once in and walking around the near maze of a sewer system Marionette was somewhat thankful she could choose not to smell. “So… I don't think I ever caught your name Mr. Black Knight.” The man's head was on a pivot looking for enemies as he walked. “Racknar Aradae, and just to clear things up I'm registered as a berserker as far as my combat type.” Marionette nodded “I'm a rogue, good at getting around quietly and dealing with traps. What's a berserker good for?” Ariagoria quickly answered for the man “They like to get in close, and hit hard. They can take damage just as well as deal it out and tend to resort to unarmed combat. Some people call the combat type a walking siege weapon.”

Marionette was satisfied with the explanation as they walked when suddenly Racknar stopped walking. “We've got rats up ahead.” He warned simply. Both Marionette and Ariagoria readied their weapons. Marionette with the two blades of a gardening shear held like short swords and Ariagoria with a crossbow. The trio moved slowly down the sidewalk like pathway at the side of the literal river of shit that was the sewer.

It was hard for Marionette to see the path directly in front of her because Racknar was blocking it, but when they stopped a second time she didn't have to ask why. She could hear the sounds of the rats. Then she saw them. A group of five large rats, easily the size of small dogs as well as swarms of normal sized rats, were standing a bit ahead of them, illuminated by a small magical service light. Racknar unsheathed one of his two-handed greatswords using only one of his hands leaving the other hand open.

Racknar ran into melee range and without hesitation sliced at one of the rats twice, killing it on the second strike. He then draws the other sword in order to block a bite attack from one of the other large rats. Ariagoria fired a shot at one of the small rats, killing it instantly. Since getting into melee at this time wasn't a good idea for Marionette, she resorted to using throwing needles to take out three of the small rats.

The three of them may have been limited to the maintenance walkways due to the fact no one really wants to walk in sewer water, the rats weren't nearly as picky and started moving to try and surround the small party. Marionette switches to her blades and makes a cut at a big rat clearly injuring it but not killing it. Ariagoria shoots a large rat that was coming at her but it wasn't enough to down the creature. Racknar still had three of the rats focused on him and cut down one of them with two slashes of his swords and injured a second with his third slash.

The two rats Racknar had occupied both claw at his sides but don't seem to do much damage, meanwhile Marionette barely dodges a bite attack from the other engaged with her. The rat trying to claw at Ariagoria swipes wide and smacks its claw right into the wall. Ariagoria uses this opportunity to whack it on the face with a one handed mace using her off hand which bashes in the things skull. The body of the large rat floats down the sewer. The little rats nip at the party's ankles but don't do much damage. In fact Marionette doesn't even feel it

Racknar lets out a guttural roar as he makes a swipe killing the injured large rat that was attacking him and kills the second large rat with two cuts killing it. He then stomps on a few of the smaller rats. Ariagoria, now free of any big rats, starts focusing on taking out small rats. Assuming Marionette can handle the last big rat. She dodges two claws and a bite from the large rodent before skillfully jamming her blades into its eyes. The group then makes relatively quick work of the swarms of regular rats.

Once all the animals are dead, Racknar retrieves the hearts from the four large rat corpses as proof of the kills for the quest. “Too bad the last one floated away, but it's not that big a deal. How's everyone's ankles? If you have scratches and bites we’ll need to patch them up.” Ariagoria lifts her nun habit a bit to show she's wearing knee high leather boots. “I came prepared, they didn't even get through my boots. Mari might have had it rough though.” Racknar looks over to Marionette, then back to Ariagoria. “She's at no risk of infection.”

Ariagoria knitted her eyebrows for a bit, but then shrugged. “If you say so.” Then the group started moving again. The group continued to hunt down and kill rats throughout the sewer. Whenever they reached a crossroads, Racknar would ask Marionette to scout ahead. The first time he does so she pauses while passing him. “Considering my attire doesn't offer the ankle protection that Ariagoria’s does, I'm surprised you aren't worried about bites and cuts getting infected.”

Racknar looked at her and drew in closer. Although Marionette couldn't see the man's eyes through the shadow in his helmet, she could tell his eyes were looking directly at her's. He then gently grasped and lifted her right hand and spoke in a surprisingly soft and hushed tone despite his gruff voice. “I never forget a face.” He stated simply while his armored fingers gently caressed her's.

At first Marionette thought he was being flirtatious, but his words definitely weren't meant to be a pick up line. Especially considering she would have remembered meeting this man before. She then looked to the hand that was holding hers. On the wrist was a leather arm band, decorated with what looked like teeth, claws, and symbols that Marionette didn't recognize. Then her eyes moved to his fingers. There, she spotted a ring that looked an awful lot like her's.

Marionette recognized her adoptive father's work immediately and realized what Racknar meant when he said he never forgot a face. He had seen her body at her dad's store when he visited four years ago, and although the illusion made her look human, she still had the same features as before. He knew what she was, not only that, but he was also using a ring of minor illusion.

Marionette’s dad had warned her that if anyone identified her ring as an illusion item, that person would be able to temporarily see through the illusion and to her true self. The same was true for Racknar when Mari realized he also had a ring of illusion. For a moment, brief but clear, she could see beyond the illusion cast by the ring.

Marionette's eyes widened in shock and she would have let out a yelp but her voice was stuck in her artificial throat as she found herself in front of an honest to goodness monster for just a moment. Pitch black carapace, eight black eyes, a set of fangs coming off the cheek of a strange looking face and mouth. He had two sets of arms and a set of spider-like legs curled up at his hips. A humanoid spider monster, something most would consider an abomination.

Marionette remained silent, and although the illusion had been restored she found it hard to look Racknar in the face without thinking about his true nature. However, she did her best to put herself at ease. If this man-spider wanted to hurt her, he would have. She continued the mission as if she hadn't seen anything. The group continued farther down the sewer area hunting down and killing more rats.

Marionette couldn't help but be anxious the entire time. Not only did Racknar know what she was, he himself was something strange. Marionette had seen a number of beast-kin around the city before, but never an insect or arachnid. The majority were mammals, with a minority of avian, reptilian, or amphibious ones. There were a few types of fish men, but they were considered separate from beast-kin and Marionette had only seen one in her time here. She had questions, but couldn't openly ask them without outing him.

The knight was keeping quiet about her true nature, so it was only fair she did the same. There were a few questions she could ask him openly between rat encounters though. “I overheard some people call you the Black Knight of Riverside. Were you born there?” Racknar responded without looking back at her. “Not exactly, but it's the closest city to where I was born.” The doll nodded. “Are there a lot of beast-kin in that area?” Racknar took a moment to respond. “Not that I know of.”

Marionette didn't feel any closer to figuring this man out or understanding what he was about. “I heard you've taken out two named monsters. That's quite impressive for someone of your age and rank. I'm curious as to who you took down.” Ariagoria nodded. “I was also curious about that since I had heard a bit about you as well.” Racknar let out a small sigh. “First named monster I killed was Karriona, a razer locust queen who claimed to be a champion of the god Locath.”

Ariagoria was clearly shocked by this information. “Wouldn't that make her a Paladin or Cleric?” Racknar nodded “or a Warlock with a divine patron. It was a really tough fight considering she was infected with Locath's Blessing. I'm not sure how but the infection made its way to a black iron spider’s nest resulting in a brood mother and a few of her spawn being infected. Alitha Aradae was the second named monster I had to take out in order to prevent the illness from going any farther and infecting the entire nest.”

Marionette stopped in her tracks when she realized that Racknar and the black iron brood mother had the same family name. Was he… raised by giant spiders despite being a beast-kin? Is that how beast-kin are created? A number are born from animals via magic and when they find others of the same kind create a new race? Were there others like him out there, or was he the first and only of his kind? Marionette had so many questions she couldn't openly ask that it made her head spin.

Racknar noticed that Marionette had been lagging behind. “You coming, Mari?” He asked. Now out of her own head Marionette quickly caught up with the group. After several hours of killing giant and regular sized rats the group eventually left the sewer. All together, each of them made seventy five argentum coins. The job done, the group got ready to disband.

Marionette looked to Racknar, thinking about their situation. She speaks to him quietly “Does it really not bother you, what I am?” He shook his head. “I could ask you the same question.” She thought about it for a moment. She then spoke loudly enough for Ariagoria to hear “I was uncomfortable at first, but I guess it really is what's on the inside that matters. I'd team up with both of you again in a heartbeat.” Ariagoria nods and agrees. “Same, I'll see you around.” The group had disbanded but Mari felt it definitely wouldn't be the last time she would see these people.