Project: TheirWorld - Chapter 026 - Part 1

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The Hunter’s Guild

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TheirWorld

With the dirt of the road they walked on softly crunching under their feet, the pastor had his brow set deep in thought.

“Is the corruption of the woods so bad?” he asked her, his voice curiously astonished. Though she had only told him what she thought was necessary - the earth dying, the new forms of the beedants and the moarbits, the traps in their great number - it seemed to her that he had accepted her story all too quickly.

Guin nodded, and told him, “The forest looks like it’s turning into a swamp, and there are more dead animals than I could count…”

The pastor stopped and pulled her back by the shoulder. “Guin, what do you intend to do about this?”

“... You aren’t going to say something about me being a child now are you? Because with or without your help, I’m going to find the hunters and… do whatever it is I can!” She had left her bargain with the fox spirit out of the story she had told him.

But Pastor Jormund shook his head. “That’s not what I am saying,” he told her, his eyes showing a peculiar sharpness Guin wasn’t sure she liked. “Spirit Corruption is extremely dangerous. Child or no, an amateur shouldn’t be getting involved with -”

“What am I supposed to do? I have a chance!” she cut him off. “If you were the only one with the power to do something, wouldn’t you do it?” The pastor’s eyes went wide, but he said nothing as she continued. “If I don’t, then what? What happens to the forest? What happens to the spirits and the animals there? And let’s not pretend that if the forest dies, this village won’t be affected!” Guin watched as his expression went dark. “I told you the truth,” she said. “Don’t turn away and betray my trust now.”

Pastor Jormund remained silent as he began walking again - this time, at a much faster pace. Guin followed, though her curiosity grew. She could tell that he wasn’t just upset at her words - he was angry. There was a pang in her heart as she realized that her personal relationship with this NPC had probably taken a nosedive - but as there was no official way to check relationships with NCS, there was no way for her to know truely how much. Not like I was trying to score brownie points with the Imperial church, anyway, she thought to herself, bitterly.

The Hunter’s Guild wason the far edge of the town, nestled in a hidden little part against the woods, not far off from Alta Noin’s cottage. The area had several connected buildings, many which were alight with firelight. Loud noises and chattering could be heard from the outside, and Guin could see that there was an area where several animals were behind hung to dry, and several tanning areas where pelts were strung up. Guin’s eyes narrowed as she looked over everything she could see, looking out for a pelt that matched the fox spirit’s description.

The pastor walked her up to the door of the main building, and then stopped, sighing heavily at the door.

“Thank you, Pastor Jormund, for bringing me here,” Guin said, feeling slightly ashamed of herself for acting the way that she had. The pastor made no response, however. Guin tilted her head, and started, “Pastor Jormund? Pa -”

Without so much o an acknowledgement of her words, the pastor walked up to the door at a swift, determined pace and banged on the door. Shaking her head to snap herself out of the shock the action gave her, she went up and tugged on his arm.

“What are you doing?” she hissed. The grim expression on his face took her further aback, but the door swung open before either of them could say anything.

“Eh? Whaddya want? Pastor?” an unkempt looking jikak man reeking of alcohol and body odor asked. Guin wrinkled her nose and wondered if he was related to the horrible gatekeeper from before. “We don’t be needing no pastor her -”

“I am here to speak with Master Euen Dawl,” Pastor Jormund demanded curtly, his eyebrow twitching.

“Master Dawl?” the man at the door turned into the building and bellowed: “Oi! Master Dawl! There be a little spreader of the Lady’s legs here to see yeh!” The man looked back at Paster Dawl and let out a big burst of laugh, spraying both the pastor and Guin with his saliva and breath that rivaled the corruption in the fox spirit’s cave.

Guin coughed and waved a hand in her face, “Was the necessary? Asshole,” Guin muttered, but the pastor put a hand out to silence her. Liorax hopped up over to the man’s shoulder, and in a flash of green light, disappeared. Guin snickered.

Just as Liorax vanished, a thin, roguish looking man with long, curly black hair tied back into a tight bun appeared with a large dog at his side. A set of four small green mystricks on the left side of his face glittered in firelight of the building as he approached them.

The man was lean, and walked with as easy a grace as his wolfish hunting dog. Dressed in greens and browns with tanned golden skin and a faint goatee, he quite fit the image of master hunter in Guin’s mind. Or Captain Hook crossed with Robin Hood.

The man looked down at the drunk jikak, though he stood a few inches shorter and sneered, “Try saying my name, his, and The Lady’s, with the dignity that they deserve next time.”

“M-Master Dawl…” The jikak man visibly paled as he attempted to defend himself. “This here fool comes here with his little bitch and dares to -” Dawl simply set his face into a deeper glare. The jikak man licked his lips and turned to Pastor Jormund. “For -” Whatever he was about to say seemed forgotten in an instance, as, with a look of great concern on his face, he suddenly broke out into a ridiculous dance, spinning and bowing, hitting his head on the door multiple times and the other three around him watched in mild horror. “Wha-What-What the! Ahhhh!” He fell flat on his face. Master Dawl’s hound looked down at him with just as much disgust as his face.

Guin snorted as Liorax appeared, doubling over in laughter as he floated back to her shoulder. She gave him a subtle grin of approval.

Master Dawl glared down at his man. “Worthless,” he muttered, his lip curling. “Get off the floor - no more drinking for you tonight.”

“Ah, but, Master, it wasn’t -” went the jikak, covering his nose.

“Git!” the Master shouted at him with a kick to his ribs. The man on the ground scrambled up and ran out from the entryway with a terror stricken face. Master Dawl sighted, and looked over to the pastor with deep wrinkles in his brow.

Pastor Jormun gave him a raised eyebrow, but said nothing as they turned and walked back out into the night. Dawl shooed his dog away, and followed, sparing Guin a glace before he closed the Guild House’s door.

“What brings you here, Jormund?” Dawl asked first, as he walked out to meet the pastor. “Why bring a child out here?”

Though she wanted to bite back at him for his comment, her anger was quickly quelled by the anger that was being emitted from the pastor. What the hell is this? Guin wondered, unsure of what her role was in this scene.

“What is going on in the forest?” Pastor Jormund asked.

Dawl adopted a lax pose and crossed his arms. “What do you care about the forest?” Master Dawl asked, apparently annoyed by even the suggestion that Jormund could have a right to. Sighing, he shook his head. “In any event, I’ll be needing you to be a little more specific than that. The forest is big - and odd even on a normal day.”

Pastor Jormud ran a hand through his hair and adopted a very boyish stand as opposed to the usual dignified one that typical oozed from the man of the cloth. “Euen - Why I am I hearing about corruption in the woods?”