Thatcher Damned-I-Be-If-I-Hath-Been-Despoiled-By-Thou Thunderchief XI
Velathri, Paean Legion HQ
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Oh? Who's this?Thatcher could barely believe what his 50-plus-year-old rabbit ears were picking up. Was that.. Buttered Lambfur..? Yes, it was, in fact! The pre-pubescent red cloak
Griffon rider—and one of the newest Legionnaires, at that—had come to help them on their mission? How excellent! He could hardly hold in his excitement at the thought of having such a massive beast backing them up on their quest. Some would call this kind of thought stupid. Others, like Thatcher, would call it
simply excellent. Along with being powerful beasts of burden, Griffons were excellent in scaring away many kinds of enemies, along with dispatching those who were brave enough to remain after being scared away. He’d never had the chance to inspect one up close, so this was potentially his "ticket in" to their inner-workings and mannerisms, if you will.
“Hohohohum! By myfather’smuttonchops, I woulda’ne’er thought a
griffonrider ofallpeople would be joining us!” Thatcher spoke as quickly as he moved, bounding over to the young woman at a pace one
wouldn’t expect out of a borderline geriatric like himself. His age quickly became evident to Betty in his gruff but quick voice, as well as the obvious peg leg, which was another story for another time. Still, he inspected the young griffon rider like one would do while perusing a product, albeit with care as to not make himself seem creepy.
“Only, there is one question, child:
where are your swords? Your shields? Your beast iself? Your... by the divines.. your
POTIONS?!” He spoke with alarming alacrity, a royal ‘we’ accompanying each and every word. “Bah! Youlookasif you are prepared for a RACE, not for battle, my dear! That reminds me of the time when I, and my good friendo Barnabus the Bard the Purple Cloak—damned be his killer, I’ll find him someday—were out and about adventuring one day, when we came across some young soul trying to fight a monster! Alone! Can you believe it? Welltheboy
SAIDhewasgoingtofightamonster, okay, BUT, we decided to watchtheboy as he went out to slay the beast..! Alone! ...but the beast was merely a wolf. A small, docile wolf, at that, that ran off at the sight of two experienced and quite frankly HANDSOME Legionnaires. Needlesstosay, he went in TOTALLY UNPREPARED for ANYTHING, you see. A WOODEN TRAINING SWORD and LEATHER ARMOR is NOT!!! a good method for slaying monsters in any world! Okay? What IS agreatmethod in destroying monsters, however, ARE BOMBS! ACIDS! CROSSBOWS!
POISONS! Nothing that poor youngster had with him, sadly.”
It appeared he had trailed off onto quite the non-sequitur, so Thatcher gave a cough to re-collect himself. “So! While I am
positivelyabsolutely NOT opposed to your assistance on this task, I would like to ENSURE you are well-armed for the mission....especially a newbielikeyourself. I can help provide. But, FIRST!” He raised a finger, as if to emphasize his point, and stepped backwards to introduce himself. “My name is Earl of the Warren Thatcher Damned-I-Be-If-I-Hath-Been-Despoiled-By-Thou Thunderchief XI, eleventh son of Silas Until-The-Gods-Hadst-Blessed-Me-Thou-Hadst-Been-Bloodied-On-The-Mill Thunderchief, blue cloak of the Paean Legion. You are Buttered Lambfur, yes? Or, is it, Button Lambherd? Bettine Lambert-ah, yes! Bettine! That’s it. I do hope I’ve got the right person here. Mymemory’s as scrambled as my eyesight some days! Ha! Ha ha ha!” He chuckled heartily.
Luca Greyfoot feat. Oberon Klask
Soast
Crystal Investigation Mission
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The unsettling and foggy atmosphere of the village of Soast only made the task of checking out a creepy, creaky old church at the end of the street all the more
spooky. It looked like some dark building one would find out of a horror book you could only get in the darkest corners of the Legion library—imposing black bell tower and stained glass on the interior, but it seemed to be lit up enough that you could find your way around. Luca could relate the church to some of the older buildings in Lycanmire and Velathri which all carried a dark, sinister aesthetic to them despite being relatively innocent. This one, however, carried all the red flags of some crazy cult or religion. He wasn’t going to take any chances here, not at all.
“Oberon?” He looked over his shoulder to the monk, perhaps out of fear for going in alone, or just needing someone to back him up. “We can look over this church, see what we can find.”
“Aye.” the monk replied, taking a few long strides to match Luca. “Perhaps some villagers have clustered in the church, it’s large enough to hold the entire village and then some. They may be willing to give us some information.” he said, not exaggerating in the slightest. The church was massive, eclipsing everything even remotely near the religious building in a thick, deep shadow. Especially the bell tower, which was a curious feature in the otherwise flat landscape. Being a river village, the land was quite low, and few buildings rose higher than two stories. It only served to emphasize the huge size of the church, the looming force that religion still played in Anthem.
Admittedly, his skin crawled at the thought of being back within a holy building. He still hadn’t forgotten The Blaze, the terrible fire that he had started, one that had burnt down a massive religious landmark. Part of him wanted to turn back. But he had to face his fear and prove his bravery, especially under the eye of such a scrutinous Captain. She would only accept the very best from him, so he needed to put in his very best.
“That’s a good place to start.” Luca noted with a nod. The doors of the church were larger-than-life, even taller than a full-grown orc, that is. Miraculously, it didn’t take much effort to open the doors, as only a light push was all to open them up, allowing ambient outside light to fill the entrance.
Inside, the sheer size of the building became clear by the impossibly large ceiling alone. The stained glass windows cast an ominous red glow onto the pews, one row of which which was occupied by two sleepy villagers, all while a man in dark regalia tended to the pulpit at the other side of the building, burning some sweet-smelling incense at the shrine. Luca identified it to be rose almost immediately. The walk from the entrance, past all those (mostly) empty pews, to the priest at the end felt like a mile, taking the duo nearly a minute to do so after awkwardly shuffling past the quiet, praying villagers and other religious icons of fish encased in glass.
Luca’s ears picked up each and every sound in the massive building, including the scuffling of mice and the whispering of the villagers as they walked in, and the incoherent mumbling and chanting of the priest they approached. “Doesn’t really seem as if we’re welcome here,” he noted softly, an icy tinge of xenophobia on the villagers’ words. It then became clear to him that fish imagery was
everywhere in the town and
especially the church. The stained glass depicted disturbing “fish lore”, including one giant “mother fish,” and a whole world made of fish, including some massive moon...made out of fish. The priest’s robes, too, were covered in fishy scales, giving it an ethereal glimmer from the ambient light of the torches and stained glass.
“A man of faith and a man of the sword..!” The priest said, pausing his ritual as he gave a crisp about face to address the man from his heightened position. “Leave your weapons down there if you wish to speak, my children.”
Motioning for Oberon to do the same with his staff, Luca awkwardly removed his oversized sword and set it down against one of the pews, walking up a small set of stairs to the “stage.” Oberon appeared less pleased about dropping his weapon, fingering the staff longingly for a few seconds before deciding to relinquish it, albeit quite grudgingly based on the sour scowl on his face. It was clear he didn’t like being inside the building, especially with the slightly overwhelming amount of aquatic imagery. Something about it felt...strange to him. How there were so few people inside, the strange mumblings they made, their apparent hostility towards their very presence. He could understand why they would be apprehensive at the sight of a Lycan, but Oberon was a regular man, it was odd that they were so aggressive. It was best to act as peaceful as possible and drop the weapon, but he would be quick to grab it again it misfortune happened to arise.
Once the two were on the stage, the priest waved both of them blessings that carried a distinctly fishy smell to them—in fact, the priest
smelled like fish, too. It was a smell one could get used to rather easily, but it was nonetheless unpleasant. Perhaps that was why the rose incense was burning? They simply needed something to get that fishy smell out of there.
“Two Legionnaires from the Paean Legion.” The priest began. “One, a monk, the other, a Lycan. Services are held at night on weekdays. What brings you to Soast, my friends? Have you come to confess for your errs in the past? To learn more about the town and its history? About the glory of Piscanism? To become a member of the church?”
“..Piscanism?” Luca curiously tilted his head, as if he were trying to understand what the man was saying. The word seemed alien to him, except for the first part that he vaguely remembered meant “fish.” He looked around briefly, oblivious for a moment. “Is that why there’s so much fish imagery?”
“Yes, yes, of course,” joyfully said the priest as he clasped his hands together, “Since time immemorial this quaint slice of civilization has followed the great god Pisces of the River Aria. Some might say we follow too well but naysayers have no power here. Hmm, I see you two are Paean Legionnaires?”
“Yup. I mean, yes.” Luca nodded. “I’m Luca, this is Oberon. We were wondering if we could ask you a few questions about the village.” Of course, he also wanted to ask
his own questions about the village, namely the ever-present and thick fog around them.
“Ah, go ahead then.” said the priest, “Oh you may call me Father Manuel.”
“Well, Father Manuel.. what’s with the fog?” Luca asked. “I haven’t seen anything like this before. Is it unique to this town?” He then turned to his comrade. “Oberon, you wanted to add anything else?”
“Erm, yes.” he said awkwardly, surprised by the sudden redirection. “We also wished to know about the nearby village, VanLoon. Have you seen any strange occurrences within the village as of late? Strange behavior of the people, the weather, the climate? Perhaps something of a magical nature?” Best to keep the questions vague. It would make getting a straight answer much easier.
“Fret not my child,” said the Priest to the Lycan, “The fog is a common occurrence. We’re right next to one of the largest rivers in the Heartlands. A bit of humidity isn’t too strange. Personally, I believe it be a blessing from Pisces. Helps keep the skin
moist.” Once the bald Legionnaire spoke up about VanLoon the priest rubbed his won bald head, “Yes, that cursed place. Well its all the rage in the county. Talk of crystal columns encircling the town and perhaps even expanding. No one’s been there in a while since hostile wildlife covered in crystals attack anyone who nears so we’ve had to look elsewhere to sell fish. Some hunters from outside where hired by the Count of the area to look into it but never returned. One died on my very doorstep claiming something about crystal people. So very tragic.”
“Interesting.” Luca noted. He’d heard about the crystal-infested wildlife from the contract, but crystal-infested
people was something he hadn’t heard about. He didn’t like to think like a pessimist, but if this was the case, Vanloon was truly a closed case—there wasn’t anything that they could do to help those poor villagers aside from smashing them. “And, what about that strange thing at night?” Luca asked. “We heard there was some strange beam of light that went into the sky at night. What’s that supposed to be?”
“I’m no sheriff or detective but I believe the light comes from the meteor itself! Its origin matches where the meteor fell. The light it creates...it matches no color known to man, elf, or any other being. It’s so mesmerizing so beautiful…” the priest shook his head suddenly before looking at the two men again, “But yes. The meteor is behind it all. There’s no other explanation.”
So the meteor’s the cause of it. Luca thought to himself, his intuitive skills putting the whole picture together rather quickly. “I see. If we were to somehow destroy that meteor, there’s a chance we could end all this.”
“D...destroy the meteor? But then the beautiful light will disappear!” shouted the priest with spit flying out his mouth. It appeared that his skin had turned sweaty and pale in shock. He brought up his hands to his bald head and rubbed it incessantly. “Apologizes, no. Sorry but I must ask you two to leave unless you’re staying to pray. If you excuse me I must go. The confession stands to Pisces need me.”
Luca backed away from the priest a few paces as the man’s demeanor totally switched up on them. What kind of priest was this, first depicting the crystals as something terrible..but now,
this? “I take it this is our cue to leave, Oberon..” Luca took a glance to their weapons by the pews. Of course, he always was quick to aggression—even a priest could be dangerous given their strange, esoteric ways. A quick lunge to grab Illumina would work, but he didn’t know what that priest had in terms of damage. But, was it too foolish to jump to aggression like this?
Oberon did not agree, shaking his head and instead stepping forward and continuing to question the priest about the pillar of light. He too was curious about it, particularly at the priest’s odd demeanour when speaking of the pillar of light. He seemed to switch in and out of some dream state, as if he was hypnotized by the light.
“Father Manuel, what is it about the light that’s so attractive? Is the light the reason for crystallizing the livestock and people? You must tell us, more lives could be at stake if we do not know! There are very few other reliable sources in this town besides a man of religion, we are placing our trust with you!” The people in the pews now appeared agitated, shaking their heads and muttering in even louder tones. The glares were becoming icier, colder every second, a few even shaking their fists. The very room itself seemed to grow an odd chill, the fish carved in the stained-glass windows staring down with wary eyes of judgement. This was a dangerous place. But they needed answers to their questions, not rush into things uninformed like that bloody Lord Byron contract.
“I’m just a priest! I only know what I hear from others,” he said in desperation backing away from the bald monk, “The light...the light..it’s like a lure with juicy bait. Once you see it you..I..can’t look away. That’s all I know.”
Oberon simply sighed, letting the priest go off. The holy man scurried away, running to the back of the church and locking himself in the confession stands with a resounding
thud. There was nothing more to learn, he clearly wasn’t in the mood to give answers to their questions. Hopefully, the information he did give would be enough. The duo moved back to where they had left their weapons, retrieved their gear, and headed out the massive doors of the church, still pondering over what had transpired.
Figuring asking the hostile villagers wasn’t going to yield anything useful, Luca shrugged. They left the stage, picking up their weapons on the way out. “I guess that’s all we can ask them Oberon.” Pretty much everyone else in the church saw the two as if they were hostile intruders, so staying here for long wasn’t going to be the best of moves. “It was kind of strange, though. Why did he respond like that when we asked him about the light? He seemed to be normal before we brought that one up..” Then, pausing as if for dramatic effect, he continued. “Is
everyone in this town like that because of the light?”
“...It’s possible.” Oberon said after a pause, stroking his chin. “In any case, the light is certainly something to take into consideration when we do continue our investigation, it’s useful information. We should be wary never to look directly at the light, lest we end up like that fool. Hopefully, the others found something a tad more useful.” he grunted with a smirk, twirling the staff in his hands.
Hopefully… Luca thought to himself, nodding along to his partner’s suggestions. As they left the old church, Luca paused for the door to close behind them, taking a look at the gloomy town before them. “If anything, whenever the chance that we get to smash that light arises, let’s be sure to take it. Something tells me that light has got a lot to do with this, crystals aside. And, if it comes to it, I might have to transform.”