Deacon, still in between states, starts to feel heavy. breathing slowly becoming a challenge. He suddenly becomes acutely aware of this and his dream fades into reality. He hasn’t opened his eyes, but he can feel a heavy force on top of his chest. lazily opening his eyes, he sees that Triss has almost rolled onto him, with a bird’s nest of hair.
He accepts his position for a few minutes before grabbing his hand and gently slapping Triss’s face.
“Come on, wake up. Come on, sleepy head, get up.”
Triss stirs as she half wakes up and gives him a sleepy stink eye, not fond of being woken up.
“Wha?”
“you're crushing my bones, scooch”
“Ehhhhhh.”
She slowly gets off him and makes a *bloof* sound as she rolls over. Deacon gets up and starts his daily routine, changing into some different clothes and brushing his teeth, he looks in the mirror and sees a man around 20 with short black curly hair. He’s around six feet tall and his face is thin, and oval-shaped, his eyes a deep, ocean blue. He’s decently built but still retains his flexible, stick-like structure.
After looking at himself, he flexes “Damn I look good.”
Deacon heads off to make a fruit salad and a steak that he had in the fridge
Triss finally gets up begrudgingly and goes into the bathroom to brush her teeth and get the knots out of her hair. She looks into the mirror and sees a woman around 20 with straight longer red hair. A little taller than Deacon, and has a few freckles here and there. Her face is built more like an upside-down raindrop. With almost velvet green eyes. She’s built pretty small but has a hidden strength behind her.
Triss finishes up and walks into the kitchen to see Deacon cooking the steak.
“Let's hope this one doesn’t end up like your last.”
Deacon rolls his head back.
“Ok, I didn’t realize you needed the pan completely hot before using wine, can you PLEASE, just give it up?”
“No, no I don't think I will. I’m still surprised that for how much you like cooking, you’ve NEVER SEEN a cooking show, like, once.”
“Cooking shows are boring. Why watch someone cook good food when I can just cook good food? It just makes me hungry, and then I end up cooking anyway”
“It’s so you can incorporate cool cooking things into your recipes, and not dump half a gallon of red wine on a piece of fucking raw meat.”
“It wasn’t half a gallon, it was only like, a quarter of a bottle”
“That’s still a lot of god-damn wine”
“Well, it doesn’t matter, because I’m not using wine this time. And if also, if you're of such high and mighty taste, why don’t you cook once and a while?”
“Cook what? That steak was the last cookable thing in the kitchen, You already made a fruit salad, that’s about all I can do. And also, wanting my steak to have less alcohol than a brewery is not high class, it should be the standard.”
“Well, the steak is done, All this arguing worked up an appetite, so if you don’t mind, I’m going to eat my half of the steak. your welcome to eat yours.”
Triss gives a sarcastic “Well, maybe I will!”
they eat their food on the couch and watch some random channels on TV. after a few minutes, and a few more chores, they finally get ready to get going. Triss walks to her room and puts on her armor, a small chainmail vest underneath a green and brown leather chest plate, and a small, green hood that blocks out the sun from her eyes.
Deacon grabs his armor, it’s a sleek, steel armor, very light, staying mostly on the upside, and reduced to small plates, the chest staying mostly protected, but the arms and legs are mostly left open, with plates along the sides, allowing maneuverability, but allows him to take some hits to vital parts.
Triss waits for Deacon in the living room, lying down, trying to get her energy ready. Eventually, Deacon walks out.
“Alright, get your little red riding hood looking ass up, and let's get out the door”
Triss gets up and starts towards the door,
“I thought I was the morning person”
Deacon starts, sarcastically
“Are you missing my warm embrace already?”
“only a little. but I'm just more exhausted than I thought I'd be”
“Well, yesterday was pretty big, and we only ate one sandwich. Don’t worry, that steak should kick in soon, and you’ll be fine”
“I guess, let’s just get going”
They start down towards the manor
On the way, Deacon takes a jab a Triss
“so, why did you pick the outfit that looks like you're cosplaying an elf?”
“Because I like the color scheme, why did you pick the outfit that looks like you stole it off of a guard?”
“Because it works, and it functions as it should.”
“My point exactly so shut the fuck up and let me enjoy my outfit in peace.”
Deacon thinks for a while
“Well, I never said it looked bad. In fact, I think it’s really cute.”
“Thank you, but I still think you’re mean”
Deacon dramatically places his hands over his heart and yells out
“Ooof, ooooh, ooow my pride! I’ve been mortally wounded, I can never recover from such harsh words! Won’t you please take it back? I fear I may never be the same!”
Triss stifles her laughter and lightly pushes him
“Fuck off.”
After a while, they make it into town and walk back through the manor. As they open the door, they see Talion sitting down in one of the chairs, he’s reading a book and puts it down once he sees the two of them.
“Ah, good, you made it, and with good time too.”
Deacon pipes up
“Well, it is easier when it’s not at 6 am”
“Yes, yes, but it was to test your resolve and readiness, you never know when some random thing is gonna pop out of a bush and try and kill you”
“Are we in class, or are we doing the tour?”
Talion, a little annoyed
“It was a small lesson. Anyhow, come. I shall show you all you need, and you can figure out the rest.”
He beacons them to follow and takes a left turn from the entrance.
He walks into the room on the left, in it, are a few tables, stained red. There is a small counter on the left side of the room with a man in an apron standing behind it
Talion begins “This is a small room used for inspecting bounties because most bounties are some sort of beast or creature, so we use this to make sure the bounty is right. The room to the right is where we keep the big bounties, You can check it out sometime if you want, but this is where you deliver your bounties if you have any. Although, you two have an important job, so you won't need to check in here.” he pauses for a brief second to let them look around.
“Alright, keep following, The next area is the one you're going to want to see, and where most of the action is”
He heads off out the door, and straight forward from the entrance
Deacon scrambles to follow him
“God damn, this guy is fast”
Talion puts his hands on a double door, There’s some noise behind it, it sounds like a crowd.
He looks back at both of them
“Ready to meet your co-workers? I’m sure you’ll get along. maybe.”
Triss speaks up before he opens the door
“Maybe? Are they rude or like what?”
Talion looks back “Well, it’s something you’ll have to see for yourself. Just, try not to cause any trouble and you’ll do fine.”
He opens the door to a massive bar, which smells of cigarette smoke, alcohol, and fresh meals. Inside is a whole manner of people, ranging from muscle men to quiet, cloaked figures enjoying their food in the corner. big tough women bossing around those smaller than them, small, innocent-looking women with a smile on their faces, and knives in their pockets. Each with scars that tell tales, or something in their appearance that tells a certain story. truly a place that makes legends.
A relatively smaller girl walks up and doesn’t look a day older than 18. around 5’8, her face is very smooth, and clean, and maintains a bright colorful smile. Her eyes are a bright, piercing green, with a little black cloak over her back, and two daggers on either side of her hip
“Hi! I’m Fin, Nice to meet you guys! I think we’re gonna get along great!”
She shakes Deacon and Triss’s hands, who are both a little off-put by her friendliness.
A large, quiet man walks up. Looks around mid 30’s His skin is a dark, wood-like color. His eyes were a light, hazel color. A pole axe on a sling over his back. Covered in a gritty, tough leather that’s both thick and sturdy.
He holds out his hand, his palm is almost twice both Deacon's and Triss’s. He’s a good 7-foot-tall behemoth, yet he maintains a small, warm smile to keep good impressions.
“Name’s Oren,” he speaks in a soft tone, surprisingly gentle for a man of his stature.
And lastly, a smaller guy comes up, around 6”
He’s around 40 wearing oiled robes, his hair is short and stringy. One of his eyes is clouded, while his other eye is a bark brown, his clothes are draped in religious symbols and some of which they’ve never seen before. He begins to speak in an almost rat-like voice.
“I am Renk, I sense a strong spirit in you two. Don’t let me down.”
Talion comes up behind them and starts to speak.
“They seem to like you two, alright, let’s go over the group you’ve been assigned.”
He stands somewhere in between everyone
“First, this is Fin, She’s the infiltration and weak spot specialist, though infiltration is rare these days, so she focuses on information gathering and-” he pauses, struggling to get his words out “-brutality”
she smiles and waves at the both of them.
He leans over to Deacon and Triss and begins to whisper
“Between you and me, she kinda scares me”
Triss looks at him a little confused
“What do you mean by brutality?”
“You’ll see soon enough.”
He leans back up and goes on
“Next is Oren, he’s the main muscle, and excels in taking hits, and crowd control. After that is Renk. he’s the arcane specialist. Don’t let his blind eye fool you, he’s got senses and knowledge that I don’t even fully comprehend. He’s good at keeping people aware, and a master disarmer of every trap, spell, or hex you could come across.”
Talion stands back a bit
“Well, we do have a job for you guys, so let’s get a move on, It should be pretty simple, this one’s just meant to get you used to your friends.”
He gestures to the counter, with an iron bar gate separating the counter.
Behind the counter is a man who defies the rest of the bar. He doesn’t quite fit. With a cigar in his mouth, a cap over his eyes, and a white stubble beard around his chin, he stares off into space and radiates a sense of mystery. He seems detached. Out of all the noise and rudeness of everything around him, he seems drenched in some sort of sorrow, yet he commands attention. He looks over to the group, his eyes not conveying any emotion.
“You ready to brief?”
Fin speaks up
“Yes, Quartermaster!”
And she turns around to look at Deacon, brimming with excitement and wonder, and whispers softly
“Oooooh, I wonder where gonna do this time? Another kill quest? A village on fire? I’m so excited!”
The Quartermaster looks at all of us with a quick stern stare before waving his hand to follow.
“Alright, go through the door to the right.”
Talion turns around and leaves the two with a wave and doesn’t look back.
The rest of the party walks through, while Triss and Deacon shrug to each other and follow behind. The room is of a single table, a few shelves and cabinets, and a dim light shining on a big table in the middle of the room. On the table, a big map lies.
The Quartermaster looks at everyone and then puts his cigar out on the table.
“Alright, look, for those who don’t know, we’ve been seeing strange, hostile creatures on the county's eastern side. We’ve been trying to piece together the source, but they’ve been few and far between, The search area goes for thousands of miles, and we need some new data points to find out where the origin is. However, that’s not you’re job, but if you see something that would relate to this, you report back to me. Your job is to take out one of these creatures. It’s described as not having skin but instead some sort of black liquid or slime. Though with bits of fur sticking out. Its head is a mounted deer skull, with antlers. Its whole body is massive, with smaller legs, but great upper size and strength. It’s been seen being able to tear away trees on a whim, don’t underestimate it. ”
He steps back and gages everyone’s reactions
Triss is quiet, but you can sort of tell that she’s a bit scared, Deacon is concerned, but he's more worried about Triss. Oren looks only slightly annoyed, but it doesn’t last long, Renk is cold-faced. Accepting the facts as they are. Fin, on the other hand, is ecstatic, she whispers to herself
“Fuck yeah, kill quest!”
The quartermaster leans back over the table.
“Alright, it’s been sighted around here, a few clicks east, and around one click north. Near this fishing village, most of the people there are superstitious and territorial, so just stay on the track of hunting this thing. Any news that we’re hunting something could send the nation on fire. Lastly, don’t tell anyone outside this room what you doing, or anything said in this room. If someone asks, your cover is that you are out to capture a Cerberus for a training session. We don’t know what’s happening so that information being leaked could cause a catastrophe. That means don’t send letters or messengers, we talk face to face, or we don’t talk at all." he gages everyone's responses before nodding his head
"Alright, that should cover it. Get out there. briefing over.”
The group walks out and starts moving to another room in the manor
Oren speaks to them
“We are walking to the prep room, We grab any rations, and supplies we may need, and set off, so grab what you want to eat for the next three days or so”
They all head into the room, a large storehouse with a kitchen and a locker bay
Deacon and Triss head over to the kitchen half and start picking out food.
Triss leans over to Deacon and asks
“Holy shit, what did we get into?”
Deacon whispers back
“I don’t know, but I don’t like it, it seems like everyone in that room was a little on edge, except Fin. but I guess it’s just a day in the life… let’s get our shit together and head out.”
“Yeah, I guess. What are you packing?”
The deacon holds up a small bag
“Some nuts and dried fruits, they said it’d be three days so I don’t wanna bring anything that’ll spoil. I also got a few things of meat and bread for tonight.”
“Alright, I think I’m gonna grab some bread as well, and…” she begins to look around,
“I think I’m, going to take this jerked meat for myself”
Deacon points over to the locker bay.
“And that looks like our sleeping bags, so let's get on that.”
Deacon grabs a sleeping bag and makes sure he’s got everything he needs
He looks over to Renk
“Hey, where are we putting this stuff?”
Renk turns his head and takes a second to think
“Oh, right, the carriage is outside to the right around the building “
Before leaving he catches Fin grabbing a sandwich and a few other dried foods while lightly whispering to Oren
“The new guy seems cute, You won’t get too jealous now, will you?”
Oren sighs “I’m not your plaything, leave me out of your sick fantasies.”
Fin pouts and puts her hands on her hips
“Maaan, your such a buzzkill, come on, you won't even miss me a little? I thought you prided yourself on your morals?”
Oren stands up and whispers
“You. you don’t deserve morals. If I could, I would’ve tossed you out this very moment.”
Fin puts her hands together and rests her head on them while lifting her leg in the air
“Awwww, so you DO need me!”
“Believe what you will, you sadist.”
Triss and Deacon head out to find the carriage. Deacon shrugs off the encounter, just trying to get through the day.
They spot the carriage. The wheels are made of thick lumber, while the carriage is made of quality, engraved steel, and tinted windows to allow light in. Two horses, both a perfect white color. Triss puts her hand out in front of the horse, but Renk comes out of nowhere and pulls her hand away, letting go and stating
“Sorry, sorry, but the one on the left is a biter, I don’t want you to be losing your fingers on the first day now. Approach the one on the right, he’s a sweetheart.”
Triss, a little confused
“Why do you keep him around?”
He sighs a little and stares off to the side.
“That damned Fin saw something in him. What, however, I can only imagine. Anyway, go ahead and pack your stuff, I gotta get the horses ready.”
Triss walks over and gives a pat to the right horse, who gently nods his head in her hand
“I think he likes me”
Renk pipes up
“He likes a gentle spirit. Oh, and if you see Fin near him, please, just let me know”
“Why?”
“She’s been trying to gain his trust, but Fentin doesn’t like her.”
Deacon announces from behind the carriage
“Alright! I'm set, get your stuff in here”
Triss quickly walks over and starts packing her stuff inside.
Oren and Fin walk outside, Fin quickly dashes over to the horse on the left
“BEN!” she hugs the horse around the neck, and it remains completely calm
Triss leans over to Renk
“I thought you said that one was a biter?”
Renk whispers back
“He is, I don’t know how, but she’s the only person that horse doesn’t bite, If she wanted, she could ride him.”
He laughs to himself and mutters
“A mutual bond between Two sadists”
Deacon, overhearing, asks Renk quietly
“Why do you guys call her a sadist, I mean, she’s weird, but I wouldn’t say she’s evil.”
Renk looks a little perplexed, and tries to say something, but holds it back, before giving an underwhelming
“You’ll just have to see. It’s hard to explain, but she’s……well. I wouldn’t call her normal. Just don’t listen to what she says, and just be careful ”
Deacon and Triss look at each other with worry, before carrying on. Finally, everyone’s packed up, and they start moving, with Renk driving the horses.
Inside the carriage is fine, with almost velvet seats, very comfortable, and the inside is spacious enough for around 2 people to sleep in.
This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Fin and Deacon sit on one side, while Oren and Triss sit on the other.
The carriage rattles out of town on a stone path east, the journeys about a day long, but the hunt could take a while.
The air is quiet. Oren checks his equipment and does inventory. Triss looks out the window, and Fin sits there fidgeting with a leaf she found on the ground. Deacon is looking around at the others, specifically Fin.
He watches as Fin scooches uncomfortably close to Deacon and places her hand on his shoulder
Triss stares at her intently
“Soooo, how are you doing?”
Deacon, a little confused
“I’m doing fine, why?”
Fin starts playing with his hair
“Oh, just trying to get to know you better”
Deacon moves her hand away and states
“Well, I'm sorry to say I'm already taken.”
Fin crosses her arms and pouts
“Maaan, all the cute ones are already gone…”
She locks eyes with Oren
“ OOOrreeeen, will you take me back? I'm sorry!”
Oren plainly says
“No”
“Come on, pleaaaase?”
“No”
“Please?”
“NO”
“I’m sorry!”
“No, you’re not”
“I mean it this time!”
“You can’t trick me”
Fin fake crosses her arms again
“Hmph fine, I guess I’ll just, stay alone, forever, and I’ll die young without a big strong man to protect me”
Oren puts down his weapon and stares straight into her eyes
“You don’t need protecting! You're a force to be reckoned with. you just want someone who’ll take something as psychotic as you.”
“Ah, thank you!”
“It comes from a place of hate, Fin”
“You can’t hate an orphan girl! I’ve been through so much! Please, have some sympathy”
“Don’t you use that card, I don’t know what, but something about that story isn’t right. I know you're lying about something.”
Fin giggles a little, while her voice turns more venomous.
“Oh, no, I could never, I wouldn’t deceive anyone! Especially my old lover! There’s too much history, you’d know me too well.”
Triss and Deacon's eyes turn to both of them. Fin sits there with a grin on her face as she sits forward, with her head resting on her hand. Oren looks bewildered and furious as he sternly asks
“Why…would you…say that. They didn’t even need to know about that” He gestures to Triss and Deacon
“Oh, but it’s more fun when they have some clue, also, I know that Deacons dating someone, and I wouldn’t call it a far fetch to say that it’s her.” she points to Triss and then goes back to talking
“Come on Ori.”
“DON’T! call me that. We are not friends, and we are not lovers. As far as I'm concerned, you mean nothing to me.”
Fin’s voice goes back to normal as she sits back, uninterested.
“Fine fine. you always kill the mood. never mind, I don’t want you back, I need someone more….”
she takes a big breath
“...Stimulating…Someone who really gets me.”
Triss leans over to Oren
“Is she ok?”
Oren looks at her with an exhausted face
“She won't do anything, she “likes us” too much. And for reasons I don’t want to get into, you’ll be fine…hopefully.”
The carriage ride goes along smoothly for a while before we hear Renk shout
“BUMPY ROAD AHEAD! GET YOURSELF COMFORTABLE!”
A few seconds later, the road turns to dirt, and the carriage begins to rattle, The ride becomes a battle, and Triss has to brace herself on her seat to stop herself from falling off. After a few minutes, the carriage stops and Renk gets up to open the door
“Sorry ‘bout the road, but I can’t control the paths, and they don't pay for good equipment, bastards.”
Deacon asks
“What do mean?”
“Who do you think you’re being paid by? It’s the good old government, and that makes all of us secret agents. Now, let’s cut the chat, and get tracking”
“You’re the only one that was talki-”
“SHUSH!”
Deacon, grumbling to himself
“Ok, fine”
“I said SHUSH!”
Deacon, with an angry face, zips his lips
They start walking, and after a few minutes of searching, Renk stops the party and drops to one knee
“Right here, drag marks, probably the trail we’re looking for.”
Triss examines the tracks and then spots something to the left of them
“Wait, look at that”
Renk looks where she points
“Oh, so the plot thickens”
Deacon asks
“What's going on? What are you guys looking at?”
Renk signals him
“Here, look at that”
He points to a small bit of grass, the blades are smooshed down in a pattern, 3 rods out the front, and one out the back
“Ok, so it’s a track, I thought we already found one, what’s so important about it?”
“Think about it, when have you seen a foot like that?”
“I don’t know…birds... I think?”
“Exactly, now, in that description the quartermaster gave us. When did we get a description for wings on the beast?”
“We… didn’t.”
“good. now, this means one of three things. We’re tracking the wrong creature, The creature is a bird, and can fly, or…..”
He stops for a second and thinks before saying very quietly
“Something here is very wrong.”
“Well, can we narrow it down to which one?”
“I can’t say for sure, but due to the drag marks, and the fact that these tracks are so deep and large, I'd find it hard for the beast to fly, or for these to be the wrong tracks.”
“In that case…. what's wrong with it?”
“That’s the million-dollar question now, ain't it?”
He gets up and beckons them to follow
“Let’s get to know this thing before we fight it.”
Renk tracks while Fin follows behind him, Deacon and Triss towards the back while Oren follows the rear. After a bit of tracking, Renk stops them.
“Follow, quietly” he whispers, before leading them off into the side brush, and up onto a small ledge covered in shadow from trees and bushes. He lies down and signals everyone to do the same.
“What’s the problem” Deacon whispers
“Look” he hands Deacon a small lens, and he spots a small homestead in between the trees
“Look at the doorway”
Deacon follows along, he sees a side entrance to the house, off to the left. The door is completely broken off, with the doorway cracked open in the middle as if something clawed its way in.
“Should we go help?”
“No, those tracks weren’t fresh, that means it’s been here for, I would say 12 hours. If someone’s alive in there, they can wait a little longer. Stay still, and give me back that lens”
Triss interjects as Deacon hands the lens back
“Shouldn’t we get in closer to have a better look?”
“No, we want to stay back. Three things, one, don’t know what this thing has been doing for 12 hours, but it can’t be good. Two, if those tracks were going off of anything, I don’t want to be too close to something I don’t understand in any way. Three, that thing moved only a mile in a few hours, it seems pretty slow when walking, so we don’t need to worry about it outrunning us right now. One more thing, even if it does take off, we're not near any settlements, so this is as controlled an environment as it gets.”
“But what if it knows we’re here? Wouldn’t it be beneficial to be spread apart?”
“If it knew we were here, it would’ve reacted, and it would be more dangerous to move around. We're in a perfect position, and let's keep it that way.”
“Well, we’re just gonna wait?”
“Looks like it-”
He quickly stops talking and holds his hand up,
A few seconds pass, and you can hear a wet sliding sound drone on and on
“I think we found our man,” Renk says
“Anything happening?”
Oren asks
“No, seems like he’s just leaving, after he gets a good distance, let's check the house first”
Everyone nods and they wait. a few minutes pass. the can heard the heavy thudding of it's feet slowly fade away.
“Alright, should be far enough”
He gets up and starts carefully sneaking towards the house.
The air is completely quiet. Strangely quiet, the forest is usually littered with crickets or birds, but it is dead quiet, not even a breeze. The silence is almost suffocating.
As he gets closer he slows down and closes his eyes
“I'm getting some residue, but I don’t think it’s a trap, Just don’t touch anything once we’re inside”
Deacon asks
“What do you mean “residue?”
Renk replies
“Jesus kid, I know you’re new to this, but stop asking so many questions…alright, so I have some senses, some that not a lot of other people have, and one of those, is I can detect bad air, like, areas of general meddling or problem, it’s hard to describe, and I still don’t quite understand it. Anyway, how about we get inside? Any objections?” he looks over the group
“Good now let’s get going”
Before we can even reach the door, a foul odor permeates the air.
Renk pulls us back
“Here, put these under your nose”
He pulls out little strips
“Now before you ask what they are, which I know is coming, they're smell strips. keep the stench from making you vomit, so if the smell is overbearing, just know it’s supposed to do that.
Deacon puts it on, it smells intensely like lavender, so much so that it’s a little nauseating.
Renk enters first
“Get in here boys, I hope one of you guys brought a light.”
Oren pulls a lamp out of his bag and walks in.
Everyone follows behind.
The stench starts to get through the strip. It’s sickly sweet, almost like rotten honey. It’s the smell of death. Inside is a wooden interior, and large scratches line the inside of what you’d expect from a normal house. It’s a hallway, with a staircase to the left of the room, a room to the right, and a thick dust lines the air as if the place had been undisturbed for decades.
After walking in a little further, Oren flips on a light switch.
The halfway illuminates in a dim, yellow light. The lightbulb flickers and withers with time, barely lighting up the room. With the new light, footprints become visible, three prongs forward, one back, leading right, into the dining room. The floor is littered with rotten food and splinters. a table lies, broken in half, with three chairs on their side. Plates are smashed. A few Flys buzz around the scene.
“Come over here boys, you’re gonna wanna see this” Renk yells out
Everybody walks over, and there’s Renk, standing over the basement entrance.
Oren asks
“What’d you find?”
“Look at the floor”
Everyone pans their heads downward, all stepping on a smear of black goo, viscous, and sticky. It smells terrible, but it’s quite the source of the odor
“What is it?”
Triss asks
Renk quietly states
“I hope it isn’t what I think it is”
Fin starts to move down, but Renk stops her
“What old man? You trying to hide all the fun for yourself?” Fin says accusingly
“Listen, what do you hear?”
Deacon pops his head slightly down the hall, he realizes theirs two sets of buzzing, one faint from the dining room, but their a cacophony of buzzing in the next room, and a few flies coming out from the abyss below.
“More flies.”
“Something down there is so pungent, it has attracted them. This may be a decay you're not ready for, I suggest you grab something to put over your face. here-” He hands Triss and Deacon a small bandana “-Put it over your face. This is going to suck”
Deacon raises his hand, Renk sees this and sighs to himself
“Yes?”
“Why didn’t you give this to us before?”
“Because I didn’t think we’d need it, but this house is warm, that amplifies the smell, and the fact that it was that bad at the door, and we have another room down there, if there’s a door down there, opening it would be around ten times worse than it is now.”
He points to Oren and Fin
“You two, you guys are going to go around the house and look for clues, these two are coming with me.”
“Why us?” Triss protests
“Because those two I know can find clues, You two are new, and besides, if you’re gonna do this job you gotta get used to the worst that it offers. Can’t be a doctor if you can’t stand seeing a little blood.”
“Fine, let’s get this over with”
Oren gives Renk the lantern, and they begin down the stairs.
Decon follows down the stairs, The Goo puddles at each step, sliding while sticking to his boot like it’s pulling his foot deeper with each movement. Peeling his foot off the floor is a challenge, like pulling a stick out of the mud.
At the bottom of the stairs, lays a door, flies try and wiggle through under the door, getting stuck in the glossy mass. Renk braces, and holds the cloth close over his face, Deacon and Triss follow. He starts to force open the door, the flies making it hard, as they crunch under the movement. Finally, it gives way, and wave of nausea hits. the air is hot, almost suffocating. Inside is a room caked in the black substance. Flies stick to the floor and buzz, trying to get free. Large masses lay against the walls and floor, they seem different than the rest, maintaining shape, and seemingly oozing the black substance from them, while glistening in the lamplight, the sound of footsteps is met with slushes and gloshing, along with crunching from engulfed flies. The sound curls the ears.
Renk walks over and pulls out a jar and small measuring cup, scooping up a bit of the substance and putting it in the jar, sealing it, and tossing the cup on the floor
Deacon looks closely at the mass Renk scoops from.
He spots a little red coming from inside the scooped region
“Hey, do you see that?”
Renk walks over and picks up the scooper from earlier, and pulls it back. It’s a small red wire, holding something together inside of the mass. He pulls it further and further, a small round object, about as big as a golf ball is at the other end. Renk uses the scoop to scrape some of the mass off, revealing an eye
“OH SHIT” Deacon shouts, stumbling backward, almost tripping before Triss catches him.
Renk drops the eye and looks at both of them
“Get yourselves together. It’s as bad as I thought.”
Deacon is looking around frantically, before he spots something that catches his eye, still reeling back from this, he asks Renk
“Wait, wait, wait for a second, why are there six of them”
Renk looks back, seeing six slumped bodies of sludge.
“you're right…there are six bodies, hold on”
He begins up the stairs as fast as he can, Triss pulling Deacon out of his disillusionment and following with him.
“OREN, GET DOWN HERE”
Oren walks down the steps from the first floor
“What, what’s the matter?”
Renk,
“How many people were living in this house?”
“Three, a father, a mother, and a daughter”
“This complicates things….a lot”
“How?”
There are six bodies in the basement, that’s what the black sludge is, I'm guessing at least. Do you know what that means?
Oren thinks for a moment, his eyes light up
“Oh, that complicates things”
Triss, still comforting Deacon
“What are you guys talking about?”
Renk looks over to her and starts slowly explaining
“If there are six bodies, and only three are from this house, where did the other three come from”
“I’m not stupid I got that part, what is your conclusion?”
“They came from outside, somewhere in its territory. It doesn’t matter where they came from, it matters why they’re here…see, if this creature was a hunter, it would kill its prey, and leave it where it stays, and consume it there, but it didn’t, that means this creature doesn’t feed out in the open, and more importantly-”
Oren interprets with a grim tone
“We’re inside its nest”
“right, Now, that goo we found at the bottom of the stairs, that’s its bathroom, where it keeps its waste, whatever it doesn’t eat. Now, we have a decision, do we wait for the creature here, for it to come back with another person, or do we burn this place to the ground, and chase it?”
Triss questions
“Before I answer, why do we need to burn it, wouldn’t it be better for studying what goes on here? i know it's not our job, but seems like we're looking for info here.”
“No, the reason being, that we want these things exterminated, not studied. We can study them while we can, but our top priority is to make sure these things don't come back. And also, I have one question for you. what do territorial, habitat-making creatures usually have in their nests?”
“Umm, eggs?”
“Exactly, now, did anyone find any eggs?”
He looks around, everybody shakes their heads. Renk begins again
“Then let’s make sure we didn’t miss them. Anyone opposed burning the place?”
The room goes silent
“Then let’s remove this eyesore”
He heads outside and Pulls off his bag, and takes out a rag and some whiskey
“You just keep those on you?” Deacon asks
“Yep, wanna swig?”
Deacon thinks about it for a sec before grabbing the bottle and taking a sip, the taste is awful, no flavoring, just bitter, Deacon's face scrunches up as it burns his throat, and the mix of the air and the foul taste makes Deacon retch
Deacon, weakly
“Fuck, man! why do you even have that?”
“If I add flavoring, it makes it more expensive, and less useful as a fuel, I don’t keep this to drink…mostly. It’s a homemade firebomb, and the insane alcohol levels are what makes it more flammable”
After drenching the rag, he shoves it inside the bottle and takes out a thing of flint and steal. He gathers everybody outside and lights the top of the bottle, and catches the end on fire.
“And now comes the best part, you wanna do the honors, Deacon?”
“Nah im-”
Fin interrupts
“OOOOH, GIMMI! I was BORN for this!”
Renk sighs
“Alright here”
And hands her the bottle
She stands there for a few seconds, thinking, then she takes it by the handle, the flame almost burning her hand, before sending it careening into the second-floor master bedroom
“WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! FIIIIRE!”
Fin is mesmerized by the sight and starts doing a small celebration dance. The whole house engulfs in seconds, a backblast goes throughout the hallways, and the smell of burning rot is sickening, but it’s comforting knowing that no one else will be brought here again. The house supports creak and groan as parts of the floor begin to fall, and the house starts leaning, finally crashing down as a whole, sending sparks into the air.
“Alright. Shows over. Let's go find that thing, and take it out once and for all”
Renk points out the trail, and we begin following the trail, only a few minutes of walking later, a person is heard screaming.
The crew begins to run in the direction they heard it. After running through brush and past trees, they come across a clearing, and there it stands. A behemoth, 7 ft tall skeleton, pieces of fur hang off the yellowed bone, deer antlers spike up into the sky. A black internal mass sits in between the ribcage. As it turns around, they see a person in their smaller hand. a woman, her face limp and appearing paler as time grows. A tube leads from its hand throughout its body, pulling in something from the woman. The other arm is a hulking mass, around 3 times as big, and just as sturdy. Its face resembles a deer skull, but as time goes on, creaks and groans are heard, and its bone-like structure begins to contort and shape. the jaw becomes more uneven and sharpened teeth start to extend, the legs begin to elongate and strengthen as an unbearable scraping sound comes from it. The antlers grow more uneven and pointed, and its arm thickens along the forearm. After a few seconds, its head is misshapen, and its mouth stretches along the side into a twisted smile, with hollow sockets in the eyes, like bottomless pits. it drops the woman, and a string of sludge briefly connects from the wound to the arm. The end of the small arm has a tube on the end of it, like the face of a leech.
Deacon cracks his neck, pulls out his mace, and stands at the ready, Triss pulls out her bow and nods to Deacon. Fin grabs her two twin daggers and gets in stance “This is going to be fun” she says to herself, while Oren grabs his poleaxe and braces himself. Renk goes to the back of the party and closes his eyes.
Deacon locks, dead center, his mace down in his right hand, waiting, unmoving. The beast groans as it picks up its right hand rolls it up, and swings downward, Deacon pulls to the side and smacks a spike into its arm. It barely chips away some bone.
Fin comes up behind it and stabs bother her daggers into its eye sockets, laughing manically. before jumping off, and darting away. The beast swings around to follow her, then Oren grabs his poleaxe and stabs the tip in the lower spine, it deflects off to the right, but punctures into the black innards of the beast. It leaks profusely and the beast bends back unnaturally, the spine cracking and snapping as it extends its left hand, the leech-like tendon blurting out toward him. He ducks under it, leaving his weapon in the beast, while Triss unloads 3 arrows into the beast's chest, a groan of pain as it bends forwards, snapping and cracking back into shape.
Deacon takes the opportunity to swap out his sword and stab it between the joints in its right leg. The beast moves unnaturally fast, backhanding Deacon, and sending him flying into the bush. Fin comes out and stabs inwards to his left hand, placing them in opposing directions before pulling back with her weight, severing the arm from the beast, she lets out a cackle as she falls to the ground, and scurries away again. Reaching back towards Fin. suddenly, the ribcage of the beast smashes open, and the black intestines of the beast spill out unto the floor by an unknown force, the creature falls to the ground, lifeless.
Deacon and Triss are caught off guard, but they see Renk let out a chuckle
“Don’t worry lads, that was me, no need to panic”
“You did that? How?”
“I’m not fully sure myself, but did you ever wonder why I didn’t have a weapon?”
“That still, doesn’t really answer my question!”
“Fine, fine, so basically, without needing to explain it too hard, I can use my mind, to focus a strike somewhere, it takes a very long time, and so your job is to distract it long enough that I can will it up, and find a weak point.”
“I’m not sure that I understand, but at this point, this hasn’t been the biggest surprise today.”
There are a few seconds of complete dead silence. Everyone stares at the broken corpse of the beast. Feet are three prongs forward, one backward
Deacon looks at Renk
“So, if this creature is the one we were chasing, and it doesn’t fly, what’s wrong with it?”
Renk’s hand shakes a little bit as he stands there, his eyes staring at the thing before him, almost trying to understand it, but completely lost in thought.
He looks back at Deacon with a blank stare. It’s all he needs to understand.
“So….” Triss breaks the silence
“What now?”
Oren answers in a dead tone
“Now, we go back.”
“Are we bringing it with us?”
“No, we let the quartermaster know where it is, and turn in a piece of it as proof. Anyone, what to volunteer?”
Fin raises her hand jumping up and down from the excitement
“OH, ME, ME, ME!”
She grabs out one of her knives
“Uh, Fin?” Deacon inquires
“WHAT!” she spins around
“Didn’t you take off its arm? Shouldn’t that be enough?”
“I’ll take that too,” she says nonchalantly
She uses her knife to cut a section straight out of its guts, which are like black intestines, it splatters on her face. Her eyes are dilated, her breath is short, and she giggles softly to herself as she grabs with bare hands, a section of the tubing, and places it in a jar that Renk gave her.
Deacon is thoroughly upset by this sight, Leaning over to Triss
“I’m pretty sure she’s fucking insane”
Triss nods, her eyes focused on the gruesome scene before her
Oren snaps his fingers
“Alright guys, let's get out of here and report what we’ve seen to the quartermaster”
We all follow, leaving the corpse on the ground
Getting inside the carriage, Deacon and Triss practically collapse.
Deacon and Triss sit next to each other while Fin and Oren are on the other side
Deacon and Triss lay on each other for the ride home, while Fin bounces around the coach, occasionally trying to annoy Oren and staring out the window vacantly. Oren silently sits there, lost in thought as he looks outside, and every once and a while, repels Fin’s advances and annoyances.
Hours pass as they return, the day begins to end and the carriage finally arrives back at the manor
“Looks like we didn’t need those rations this time, you guys can just take them home today, wasn’t expecting to get them back anyway” Renk states
The couple gets up and grabs the food they made. Slowly making their way home, there's muck on the bottom of their shoes, and dirt scattered on their legs and back. They walk in silence, knees aching and bones sore. They walk out of town after dropping off the equipment they borrowed. On the way home, Triss and Deacon look at each other with complete confusion.
“What just happened,” the deacon says exasperated, before wincing and putting his hand up
“You know what, I don’t want to even know right now. I just want to go home, shower, clean my clothes, and fall asleep.”
Triss agrees quietly
“Yeah, yeah I’d like that too. cuddle buddies?”
"that sounds nice right about now" Deacon says quietly
Silence prevails for a while, the sound of the countryside is soothing to their exhausted minds. The calm winds, faint crickets, quiet rustling of leaves in the breeze, and cool air bring a sense of serenity to them. Like they finally have found their peace in the day. The dark mystery and conspiracy can be temporarily put to rest. A safe haven of thought, where nothing matters more than the fact that nothing matters. Even though it be temporary, and more pain will follow, they can afford to forget for just a few Moments.
The walk home is silent, but not awkward. The solitude is a mutually agreed silence, where no one dares to speak, for there is nothing to say. They walk close and can feel the energy of the other. The exasperation slowly widdles away, all worries and anxiety are put to an end, and they can understand that together, at this moment, they are in spiritual limbo. They sink in this comfort, and their walk continues, for the only thing they want, is for it to last.
They get home, the door is undisturbed and the pain from their legs begins to heal as if the house has rejuvenated them. The keys click and they make it in. Trying not to collapse, they get their chores done, take showers, wash their armor, and change out of the dirt, and into comfort. And they finally sit together on the couch, putting something on to watch. After a few minutes, they settle down. Triss holds Deacon in her arms, the warmth giving comfort and their bond grows stronger. They are almost inseparable at this point.
The night carries on. The day has faded into obscurity and faint memory.