If you find yourself in legal trouble related specifically to Guild work, imdiately send word to Guild HQ to obtain legal representation. If you’re cleared of charges, the Guild will cover the Lawyer’s fee. However, if you get in hot water just because you fucked up, don’t co looking for sympathy. You can still request a Guild-recomnded Lawyer, but the cost is on you, and I’ll warn you right now – those bloodsuckers ain’t cheap.
- Delver’s Guild Handbook, Section 16.1 – "The Law”
I exchanged glances with the other recruits as we followed Elin out of the door. Neither of them seed to know what to make of the situation either. Outside, we found Hassan and Vale waiting with Elin, who refused to make eye contact with any of us.
Mason directed us out of town imdiately. It was still surprisingly early, not even 0800 yet, and he said we had enough ti to make it to the campsite before dark. As we walked out of town through the eastern gates, I switched back into my armor, feeling much more secure as I did so.
We followed the road past a number of farms and then continued on into the wilds towards the south-east. As the town receded behind us, Hassan left the formation to range out ahead. The rest of us were unusually quiet, Elin’s sullen attitude infecting the group.
With everyone back in the sa Squad, there was no way to chat with anyone without being overheard. I desperately wanted to gossip about Elin and her maybe-wealthy family, but it would have to wait for another ti. At least it’s also preventing her from saying anything nasty to …
A mile or so past the last of the farms, I started to feel a bit strange. It seed like the air was a bit heavier, like there was a subtle sense of pressure around . I looked around, but the other recruits seed oblivious. Behind , Vale and Block were bringing up the rear and I noticed myself noticing Block. He’s not doing his disappearing trick again. Does it only work in towns? That doesn’t make any sense, Waste it…
The strange sensation gradually increased over the next hundred yards or so. I was starting to get concerned, when Block suddenly spoke up from behind.
“Ah, that feels nice,” he comnted casually. I turned around and looked at him.
“What are you talking about? I feel weird, like sothing is pushing on .”
“You feel it already? We’re entering a Tier 2 zone, but I’m surprised you noticed it so soon. Does anyone else feel anything?” He directed the question at the other recruits, who all denied it.
“High mana sensitivity, rember?” Vale grunted as if that explained everything.
“I feel a tingle on the back of my neck, like soone is watching us,” Raylan added a few minutes later, looking around suspiciously.
Hassan’s voice over the Comms made all of us jump and look around, but we couldn’t spot him.
“Just so you know, that’s super creepy,” I muttered, getting a laugh from Block.
Mason warned us.
Hassan reported.
It wasn’t long before we could see what he was talking about. There were scorch marks scattered around the road in various places, with multiple small fresh-looking craters blasted into the dirt. I noticed what looked like so dried blood near the base of a few small boulders ten yards to the side of the road. Beyond that, there was a single, large burned area about fifteen or twenty feet wide.
In the center, there was a modest pile of ashes getting a bit smaller every ti a breeze caught it and flung so into the air. There were a few scorched bones, cracked and splintered from the heat, among the pile. I slled the scent of charcoal and ash as we passed – the wind had been blowing it away from us before.
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Mason inford us curtly.
He kept up the pace as we moved on past the devastated area. We were moving even faster than I was used to from the previous days’ marching – it was a very brisk walk for . Vale, with her short legs, was jogging despite the weight of her armor and the increasing heat of the day. I drank a bit of lukewarm water from my canteen to quench my thirst.
A mile passed without us seeing any living creatures and nothing more than sparse plant life. I spotted a few specks in the sky that were probably birds, but I couldn’t tell how big they were or how far away. We were now beyond the eastern end of the Shadow Hills – they had stopped at the Devil’s Gorge, but so small, rolling hills nearby had blocked the view to the south. A few minutes later, Hassan suddenly ca back on the Comms, his voice urgent.
I had my gun in hand and was looking north when a large group of shapes burst into view. Identify.
Monster: BorghoundStolen from . Support AzureInk by reading the original. s/fiction/142838
Level: ?
Shit!
They looked like a pack of dogs at first, but as they swiftly approached I could see that they were much larger than the few stray dogs that road Sunland. Block sprinted to et them, sword and shield flashing, while Mason trailed about twenty yards behind him. He shouted, raising his shield, and the pack of borghounds angled towards him. There were at least twenty of them, and though I tried Identifying a couple more, I could only see ‘?’ for their Level.
Block shone with gold light as he triggered a defensive Skill, and then Mason was among the monsters, his blade moving too quickly for to follow. Each cut sent a monster tumbling to the ground, blood spraying through the air. The Tier 4 Delver demolished three quarters of the pack in a single, continuous dance of death before his Skill finally ended.
From behind us, I heard a sound almost like a gunshot and the air cracked as sothing streaked past us and detonated, shredding several more borghounds on the opposite side of Block from Mason. Only two of the canine creatures lasted long enough to jump on Block, and he impaled one with his sword while the other crashed into his shield and drove him back. A mont later, Mason’s sword flashed again, and everything was still.
Mason asked, not sounding strained in the slightest.
the Archer reported.
Mason acknowledged, then flicked his sword clean and vanished it into his Inventory before reaching down and grabbing a corpse with each hand and tossing them into a pile. As he did, I got a better look at the now-unmoving creatures.
Every one of them was different. Parts of their bodies glinted in the sunlight like they were made of tal, while the rest was covered in tan or brown fur. Fascinated, I moved closer to the grisly scene. As I approached the nearest body, I saw that it was easily over three feet tall at the shoulder, maybe closer to four. Its right front leg was mostly tal, fused smoothly into the flesh above the knee.
Instead of muscle, various tal rods and cylinders were attached to a tal fra, ending in a big paw with sharp knives for claws. The rest of it looked like an oversized, muscular, vicious dog, with long, sharp teeth and short fur – mostly brown, with so patches of tan and black. The next closest had both rear legs made of tal, while another one nearby had flesh legs and patches of exposed tal on its side and belly.
I shuddered and backed up, watching as Mason and Block finished gathering up the creatures. Vale set them on fire, though it clearly took much more effort to get them burning than when I’d seen her use the fire Spell before.
Block asked as I slowly walked back to the road.
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