Clash of Faiths

JP with Gonyaul, Hunter, Voah and Winteroak

The figure kept approaching the party of three. They could hear shouting and hooping in the woods around them but hard to work out if there were only a couple of people around them or dozens.

The bare chested man stopped around 20 metres from Voah who was spinning her censer. The strange man wearing what they could now tell was a boar's head turned his gaze upon the dead body at Hunter's feet.

"May His tusks drink deep..." He said loud enough for you all to hear. You noticed a couple of hatchets hanging from his belt as well as a stone knife.

The woad patterns of his tattoos looked primal, raw. He turned his gaze upon the Arbiter.

"I was awaiting this moment, daughter of the false gods. Slaughterer of innocents, slayer of purity." He said sounding like a curse.

Gonyaul continued scanning the woods, peering slightly deeper along the edge. He figured any occult supporters would be closer to the road in order to be of assistance if called on and so they could watch. In addition, he was glad they finally started talking, because that also meant if there were additional people, they might be trying to pay attention to the conversation and maybe less attention on the eyes watching the dark forest.

He noted the toxicity in the tone of the boar head individual towards the Arbiter. That was no way to talk to another human being.

Hunter sighed as Voah took his pill. He had been saving it for a situation like this. Sadly, without it his odds of survival were real bad. It was weird that she valued his life so much when others in his past didn’t. As he stood up on his knee he held his staff ready for action. He hid the blade inside his staff for a surprise attack to give him an edge.

Then he spoke to Voah, “Seems you are very popular in this place too……Try not to die.”

Then Hunter pulled out a few small throwing blades for his fight. Since his left calf was bad he planned to fight on his knees to increase his dexterity and speed.

She heard Hunter's words, she heard everything. The rustling of the foliage, the hoops of the hidden threats, and the man in the boar's head.

She was not the slaughterer of innocents, not like the mages who killed her innocent mother. But even so, was her mother that innocent? In her life she had met very few people who really were innocent besides children. So far she had never hurt anyone who didn't have it coming, but she herself was certainly not innocent but she did her best to atone... That was a different story from her past.

A cult who attacked civilians didn't sound innocent to her either and the words from a man wearing a boar's head meant little if anything.

"Are you finished? she derided as she continued the circling of her chain.

"I have only just started, daughter of shame." He replied back. "Repentance will not come for you. Your guilt and bloody deeds will cross the chasm of generations and plague your house, long after you are gone, Voah Sahnsuur."

She stared into the face of the lifeless boar and said calmly, "At least I will be remembered. Curse your god, whatever its name is. May it stay dead this time."

Deftly she stepped light-footed to the side crossing her legs and stepping back again slowly, the movement of her feet like some kind of taunting dance.

"I am ready."

She used the thrumming song of the whirling chain as a sort of sonic mantra that helped her focus her awareness. She was prepared for the first strike to come, no matter the direction.

The man laughed at her words. "The Creed has been alive since before the Scattering. Survived the coming of your fake gods. Persevered during the Noctua Inquisition. And millennia later, here we are, in the dawn of an new era, in a new land..." His laughter grew louder. "You think you are ready?" He snorted in derision. "We will test the mettle of your faith soon, daughter of shame."

"And that of your dogs."he threatens looking at the kneeling Hunter and the strange Gonyaul.

Dropping the torch and slowly retreating, while shouts and hooting came from behind the three of you, he left with the following words before disappearing into the woods, as if merging with the trees.

"As soon as the moon rises full, a child in red shall mark the dawn of conflict and a time of war..."