“Having fun, are we?” Troy asked as he watched the trio.
“Aye. Just telling stories and bragging about our accomplishments” Jaeger replied, having relaxed in the friendly company of Brad and Sivly.
“Did Brad mention his story about holding Irnate's Wall against the barbarian hordes?”
“Of course I did. I fought off five hundred of the fiercest, most vicious men and women of my world. That’s how I earned this phalera.” Brad said proudly as he pointed to the metal disk on his armor that depicted a lion. “Of course, back then it was a decorative symbol of my honor and not half as magical as it is now.”
Troy rolled his eyes and held up a bloody sack.
“Oh, I know Brad, you’ve regaled me with the story of both the fight and your lion disk about ten times.” Troy passed the sack to Jaeger. “These are the hearts and heads from the other side of the camp. Emilia is finishing harvesting the first Treant we dealt with, she'll be here in a few minutes.”
Jaeger added the hearts to his first sack and began the bloody task of transferring the heads to a new sack. By the time he finished, his hands were thoroughly covered in blood and other fluids. One of the few saving graces of being a bounty hunter for so long was his near-immunity to the gorier aspects of his chosen profession.
By the time Emilia arrived, the group had completed their grim, bloody task and were cleaning up. Jaeger had brought soap, having been in this situation before, and Sivly had the water magic. Using a bucket scavenged from a nearby tent, the group did their best to clean up without removing their armor, which resulted in the group washing their hands and bird bathing the rest of their bodies. Except for Sivly, they were completely clean.
“I've told you both over the years that you should adopt my style of clothing, it's much easier to clean yourself in.” Sivly said, gesturing to the array of straps and leather she wore.
“My dear Sivly, the only reason you're allowed in town in that outfit is because your fur covers the rest of you. On me or Brad, we'd be practically naked and giving the town a nice show.” Troy said, running water through his hair.
“Prudes. I don't understand you people and your obsession with nudity. It's like none of you have ever seen a naked person.” Sivly said with a shrug.
“I agree with you wholeheartedly, but sadly I don't make the rules, I just have to live by them.” Troy replied with a sorrowful voice. “Can you imagine Emilia wearing that outfit?”
“It lacks the protection I need in my alchemical pursuits, and I find that most people are uncomfortable when reminded of my patchwork nature.”
Troy whipped around, his face burning brightly.
“E-Emilia. I didn’t mean anything by what I said.”
“I know. Your hormones and your near-death experience are having a similar effect on your inhibitions as moderate drinking. Do not worry, I will not take anything you say seriously for now.” Emilia said as she walked past Troy and patted him on the shoulder.
Sivly and Brad held back laughter at the downcast look on the elf's face. They walked over to the elf and began poking and teasing him, while Emilia walked over to Jaeger and then further away from the others.
“Are you done here?”
“Yes, we have all the hearts and heads we can find, let's not keep the Guardian waiting.”
Emilia just nodded and whistled; a high, screeching sound. The others abruptly stopped what they were doing and assumed combat stances; Troy and Brad had weapons in their hands, while Sivly had a water ball circling her. As they looked around for an enemy that wasn't there, Emilia called out.
“Good reactions. We're going to meet the Guardian.”
They lowered their weapons and rushed to Emilia and Jaeger. As the group moved, the band moved in sync in a marching order that placed Jaeger next to Emilia.
“So what’s this Guardian like?” Troy asked as he toyed with his blades.
“I didn't see it face to face, but I felt its gaze, witnessed a measure of its power, and that was more than enough. It's powerful and intelligent.”
“Oh, I thought you'd met it. If you just felt it look at you and saw it do some magic, how do you know it's strong? It could just be really smart, like one of the Koropokkuru.”
As the group moved through the forest to the area where Jaeger had interacted with the Guardian, Troy continued to speculate and guess about the Guardian.
“I mean, think about it, those little folks are smart and really good at fishing. What if Jaeger was like the fishing rod, and Death of the Swords of Greenwood was the fish?”
Sivly rolled her eyes.
“How was any of what we did fishing? You have to work really hard to make that metaphor work.”
“No, think about it. They bait the hook by changing Jaeger's bounty notice and then throw him out into the camp. Now all they have to do is wait, and he'll reel himself back in to get his reward.”
“Fine, let's say your complicated and confusing fishing metaphor was correct, what does it matter? Does it change anything if the Guardian is a group of smart little folk and not, as Emilia said, a magical beast that achieves immortality?”
“I don't know, probably not. It's just disappointing.” Troy shivered, a shiver running down his spine that he blamed on the chilly weather. “I always imagined such mysterious beings to be larger than life, not just cunning and small.”
Jaeger cleared his throat.
“You should stop talking, because you’re wrong.”
Troy was busy rifling through his pack, trying to find his cloak to fight the sudden chill, so he replied without bothering to look at Jaeger.
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“Am I? How do you know, you said you didn't see it?”
“I hadn’t seen it…”
“That’s what I said.” Troy interrupted.
“Now I have.”
“And I am not one of the Koropokkuru, I am B’alam Sa’talen.”
A throaty, growling voice said with a murderous confidence. Suddenly deathly cold and trembling, Troy lifted his head and looked forward. It stared at Troy, taking his measure or toying with him, only it knew, until it finally stopped and turned its attention to Jaeger.
Sitting in front of the group was an enormous feline creature. It had a robust body, with stocky limbs and a hunter's head; flashing teeth larger than Troy's daggers. Her eyes seemed to subtly change as she watched him, from a brilliant, almost imperial gold to an overwhelming and immensely natural green. She laid her forepaws on top of each other, her head resting lazily on them; the slow flexing of her claws caused the sun's rays to flash off them. Her fur was green, with a lighter patch underneath, and covered in dark spots; dark spots that seemed to become vines and leaves sprouting from her body. The spots and their shapes varied, at the sides they seemed to almost ebb and flow, causing her form to blend in and out of the grass in which she lay. The spots on her head and neck were solid, emphasizing her predatory nature, while her tail seemed to hypnotically whip through the air behind her.
Troy's last coherent thought, as he felt himself locked in a soul gaze with this majestic being, was why are all the women I meet so dangerous? Then he was released from its gaze and nearly collapsed, sweating heavily and breathing unevenly.
“Have you completed my task? Or have you come back to die?”
The bounty hunter stepped forward and removed the sack of hearts. Undoing his tie, he dumped the horrible, bloody contents in front of the creature.
“The hearts of each of the Swordsmen, including the one who leads them.”
The great beast shifted to her feet, smooth as a leaf in the wind, and padded over to the pile. She sniffed at it twice before a vine curled out of her back and pushed through the pile, pulling out a familiar dried heart. Bringing it closer, the Guardian opened her mouth, took a deep breath of it, and then ate it. She chewed a few times before swallowing and stalking back to where she had been, resuming her lazy pose.
“Not just a manipulator of blight, but an Emissary of the Decaying Court and supplicant of the Taphonomorph. You have done the Greenwood a service and completed my task. Present your paper bounty hunter.”
Jaeger pulled out the modified bounty notice and held it out. The Guardian glanced at it and her eyes flashed brightly before dimming down again.
“There, job done. Collect your rewards and know that Greenwood will remember this service.”
The great beast stood and trotted off into the forest, leaving behind five slowly rising wooden chests. As the chests rose off the ground, the guardian disappeared. As the hunter turned to the chests, a scroll unfolded before him.
Jaeger appreciated the increase in rank and the new reputation bonus, but he couldn't tell if his level gains were appropriate or not. He had wanted to ask someone, but as an Outworlder he hadn't felt comfortable doing so. Now, however, he had a whole group of people who would understand.
“Is my level gain normal?” Jaeger asked, willing to share some more private information if necessary.
“If you are as new to Rangaea as you appear to be, and you are experiencing a rapid level increase, then yes. You most likely arrived here with little or no level, but the experience and skill of someone with a moderate level. The world is simply compensating you and bringing you up to an appropriate level. Soon your leveling will even out and you will only gain one or two levels, depending.” Emilia explained.
That made as much sense to Jaeger as anything else in the world, so he nodded, pushed the scroll away, and moved on to the chest.
“I remember my first few jobs, I was getting about ten levels a job, and I was cleaning slime out of fountains and pipes.” Sivly said with a chuckle.
“When I arrived, I started in the aftermath construction, blasting through levels. My colleagues were very excited for me.” Brad said with a fond smile.
“You were lucky, I got stuck in an observatory with an old maid. She made me work for my levels, hateful shrew.” Troy said with a shudder.
“The Guild Mistress will be pleased to hear that you remember your time with her this way.” Emilia said.
While he'd been examining his scroll, the others had arrived at certain chests, leaving only one. Approaching it, Jaeger saw that it had a pistol crossed with an axe and surrounded by a chain.
“These chests must be designated for each of us personally, for I know of no one but you, my friend, who uses these three weapons in tandem. Nor can I think of anyone who would recognize my old Legion emblem.” Brad said from beside Jaeger.
Nodding, the bounty hunter reached forward and cracked his chest.
