Garoth soared through the crisp clean air, enjoying the feel of the wind rustling through his feathers as he ascertained the village below. His orders were simple: find the spirit that has been attacking the shrine, and exterminate it. There was no reason to believe that it was anything particularly dangerous, so Garoth was sent to handle the assignment alone; a wingless partner would only slow him down. He could see the shrine clearly from up there. The priests and priestesses were going about their daily routines, though it seemed like things were a bit too routine. Nobody was goofing off or lounging about outside, thinking that nobody was watching them. But this wasn't indicative of a well-run shrine, it meant they they were being careful. The one thing he couldn't see from up there was a hiding place. No large tracks or geological anomalies indicating that something had made a nest... except for the local wildlife of course, but Garoth could tell the difference between deer tracks and chimera tracks, even from 100 feet in the air. This meant that the spirit was at least smart enough to hide among the mortals, and that he'd have to work for his reward today.

With a sigh, Garoth descended on the village in a smooth spiral, landing in a clear area in the local market. He flapped his wings a couple times as he neared the ground, allowing him to touch down gently, and then took on his human form. As his feathers retracted into his skin, his spine bent back into an upright position. His talons became hands, his beak became a nose, and his eyes found their way to the front of his face. In a matter of seconds, he was standing in his mortal form, indistinguishable from the rest of the mortals around him except for the brand that ran across his forehead, which told the world that he was a griffin. Some of the people stared in awe at the transformation; apparently the local spirits weren't very open about their true forms around here. However, nobody seemed to show outright fear. The people should have been expecting The Guild, and the spirit that was harassing the shrine was certainly no griffin. Now that Garoth was on the ground, the next step was gathering information, so he traversed the market asking the locals what they knew about the attacks.

A young priestess saw the Guild member land and ran off into the village to a small hut just between the shrine and the village. She went inside where a woman was working on a painting, a wolf pack running thru the woods. The young girl landed on her knees, panting as her hair came out of the ponytail it had been in. The woman didn't look up, her purple eyes on her work. She said "Lily, what brings you here early? Aren't you working today?" Lily nodded, catching her breathe. "Lady...Lady Shade...the Guild Member just arrived...he had big wings...his here about the shrine..." Lady Shade looked up, meeting Lily's eyes and Lily gasped a little. Lady Shade smiled and said "Relax, Lily...I have nothing to fear from the Guild...I stay out of their way, they will stay out of mine...you just tell the truth and everything will be alright. Now you better get back to the Shrine before you are missed" Lily nodded and stood, Lady Shade standing and resting a hand on the girl's shoulder. "May the Moon's shadow watch over you..." She kissed Lily's head and a small mark appeared on her forehead before fading and Lily smiled and left the hut.

After a few minutes, LAdy Shade sighed and walked out her door, looking around at the small village below her and the shrine nearby. "How can such evil be here...the guild member better be good or I will have to step in..." She turned to go back inside but stopped, a scent hitting her nose. She frowned and turned to look at the shrine, her purple eyes changing to mixed silver and gold. "So...that's what is hiding up there...I better get up there before anyone gets hurt...a Spider Demon is no foe to face one on one" She went back inside, picking up her staff and her cloak.

Garoth slowly made his way towards the shrine, interviewing several people along the way to get whatever information he could about the spirit that was attacking. Oddly enough, the lack of information was more valuable than anything else he had heard. Nobody had seen or heard the spirit, nor had it caused any significant damage outside of the shrine. People inside the shrine reported being attacked, or were found dead, all the vital fluids drained from their body. It was a stealthy, tidy creature, and it had turned that shrine into a death trap. He had seen scenarios like this before. The spirit would kill off one person, and then take over their identity as it slowly picked off the other members of the group one by one. The question was, what was it? It could easily be a vampire or a wraith, but he'd need to see some bite marks to be sure.

Garoth halted at the steps leading up to the shrine, eyeing the grounds very thoroughly. Not a trace of any struggle within the trees or dirt, just an ordinary, well-kept shrine. A tidy creature indeed. He decided then that there was no choice but to head up to the shrine and try to figure out which, if any, person the spirit was posing as. As he made his way up the steps, he saw a young girl, a bit disheveled looking, probably a priestess trainee, scurrying about. She would probably be a good place to start. A spirit that had been so careful up until this point probably wouldn't be running about drawing attention to itself. "Excuse me!" Garoth said, calling to the girl. "I'm here about the rogue spirit. I'd like to have a few words." He tried his best not so sound frightening, seeing as the girl already seemed a bit distressed, but his voice did tend to have a harsh tone to it.

Lily stopped dead and turned to the Guild member, shaking slightly. But when he asked her to speak with her she nodded. She remembered that Lady Shade told her not to lie or to worry. And when Lady Shade said that, Lily knew everything would be alright. She walked up to the man and said "My name is lily, sir...and I know why your here. There is a monster in the shrine...a terrible creature...Every two days we find someone else dead...its getting worse..." She hugged herself and took a few deep breaths. "But everything will be alright now...right?" Just then a older man came to the opening of the shrine and said "Lily? Where have you been? Its time for the ceremony..." Lily looked at the man and tilted her head. "But...its too early for the mid day..." Then she went white and moved back, staring at the High Priest.

Megumi landed inside the Shrine grounds, her cloak hiding her face from view. She just had to follow the scent and then she would handle this monster. Lily was right to be scared, this demon was smart. And if her nose was right, this demon was a high demon, meaning it had more tricks up its sleeves then a normal demon would. She headed inside, sniffing and using the shadows to hide from the other people in the shrine.

Garoth hated being interrupted, especially when he was on Guild business. High Priest or not, the man was obviously unable to take care of his people, and was preventing him from obtaining the first bits of concrete information since arriving at this place, and she had inadvertently given him information that Garoth suspected would be valuable. "Sir," Garoth said, opting to take the cordial path rather than picking a fight with a venerable old man. "My name is Garoth Brightwing. The Guild has sent me to your shrine to exterminate the rogue spirit that is residing here. If my sources are correct, somebody is killed every other day, which means we can expect to find another dead priest tonight. unless, of course, you follow my instructions." Garoth smiled at the High Priest. If he wanted his ceremony, he could have it. People were obviously being killed alone at night, not in public. "Go tend to your ceremony. I'll only need to borrow two people, and I'm sure that your gods will understand that they will only be absent because they are busy saving lives. I would like to finish my conversation with Lily here, and I would like another priest to bring me any bodies that you have preserved." He paused for a moment, about to turn away, but then another important question came to mind. "I'd also like permission to go where I please within the shrine, whether the room be sacred or not. Is there a problem with any of this?"

Garoth grilled the High priest with his intense gaze. Surely the priest knew why he was here; he had a giant brand on his forehead that said "griffin," and even the girl knew why he was here. No, the old man was clearly being disrespectful, and if he wanted to test the strength of his pride against The Guild, he would loose. Garoth's gaze almost dared the man to deny any of those requests. He was sure the town would love to here how he turned away the warrior that came to slay the horrible shrine monster.

The High priest said "Lady Lily is needed right now. She is the only maiden I have today. And to your other requests, of course. You are free to roam where you need to. But Lady Lily must come with me now" Lily looked at Garoth and said "It will not take long. I shall come back.." She headed up the steps and went inside with the high priest. They went into the alter room and Lily saw nothing was set up for the mid day ceremony. She turned and saw the high priest shut the door. He smiled darkly and said "I wish you had not known those things, Little Lily...I was going to save you for last...." Lily fell to her backside, trying to get away from the high priest who was turning into a monster before her eyes. She couldn't scream. Not a sound as fear gripped her very heart. The spider demon hissed and Lily cried softly. "Lady Shade..." The demon jumped at her but the mark appeared on her forehead and the shadows jumped out and grabbed her, causing her to vanish.

The demon screamed in anger and the door burst open, Lady Shade standing there with her cloak over her head. She smiled and said "Hello monster..." she tossed the cloak off and shifted, taking her wolf spirit form. The demon hissed at her and tackled her, both of them landing in the courtyard. The other priests and priestess screamed and tried to get way, the shadows around them shielding them from the attacks from the two beings fighting. The spider demon hissed at the wolf and said "What are you?! Where is your brand!?" The wolf laughed and opened her mouth, black and silver energy bursting out and hitting close to the demon. "I am not labeled, demon...but soon you won't be when I'm done with you..." The spider hissed and shot stingers out, hitting the wolf in her back. She jumped back, feeling the poison running thru her but she barked at the demon. He laughed and said "Soon you will be dead anyway, spirit!" She chuckled and said "Your not that smart are you? I don't need to kill you...the guild guy here will finish you..."

The High Priest had answered all the questions that Garoth needed, whether he realized it or not. Scheduling ceremonies a bit too early, allowing him to tread on sacred ground without a second thought yet not being willing to spare a single maiden. Or rather, not being willing to let Lily talk anymore. He would have burst into the room to save the girl if the wolf hadn't beaten him to it. Now that the two of them were out in the open, Garoth calmly walked forward shaking his head. "For all the caution a secrecy you used setting this little trap of yours up, you really suck at keeping your cool. Here I was thinking I was going to have to use my brain, and you just walk in and give me all the answers." His hand tensed up as he prepared a slash that would tear through the spider's exoskeleton. "Instead of just letting the girl tell me what I already knew, you played too aggressively and gave yourself away. Hell, even if the wolf did sniff you out, who would the village believe, their High Priest or an unbranded spirit?" He eyed the wolf as he emphasized those last two words, indicating that would still have some business to take care of once the spider was killed. "I was hoping to tell my guild buddies about an epic fight I won all on my own, but in the end, all I'll be able to say is that I squashed a bug. I'm really disappointed in you."

With that, Garoth dashed forward in a blur, aiming a vicious slash at the spider's face to end it in one blow. He had seen the monster fire stingers at the wolf and was wary of those as he approached, even though he always carried some herbal remedies with him on missions for situations such as these. Before the spider could even lift it's abdomen to fire another round, though, Garoth's hand was already tearing away at the creature's body. The blow cracked the exoskeleton like a fragile egg shell, tore through all eight of its eyes, and annihilated whatever it had that constituted a brain. Even if the nerves wished to make the body thrash a bit, the body would be limp within seconds. Garoth then gave his hand a quick flick, sending the blood flying off, and then turned to the wolf. "So, why don't you have a brand?"

The wolf didn't answer at first, limping over to the alter room and shifting back. She put her clothes back on out of sight and came back into view, not looking good. She went over to the body and said "I liked the high priest you monster....your death wasn't slow enough for me" she waved her hand and the body burst into black flames. She then sighed and said "it's safe now, my pack brothers...." Out of the shadows came lily, looking around then, seeing lady shade, smiled and ran to her, hugging her tightly. "Thank you lady shade....you saved me..." Megumi smiled and said "I told you, the moonlight watches over all those with a heart full of its light" she let the girl go and said "now run along home...tell the village the shrine is safe once more..." Lily nodded and ran out, thanking garoth as she went by. Then she looked at the man, her skin pale as she held her bleeding shoulder, the poison doing it's work quickly. "I was never asked to be branded. There are so few of my kind left, I slipped thru the cracks. It was better this way so I could do my duty...." She flinched, then went down on one knee. She was breathing hard, sweat pouring down her face. "If your going to take me out, do it fast....the poison will be a slow painful death...."

Garoth shook his head as Lady Shade spoke. Her excuse was not acceptable; she clearly knew the laws and the consequences for breaking them, so she should have sought out The Guild of her own accord. According to the rules, she should be killed just like any other rogue spirit. Giving her a quick and painless death was the only favor Garoth owed her. His hand tensed up, preparing to strike. He looked at Lady Shade, and then at the corpse of the spider. The two were nothing alike. One was a monster that preyed on the weak, while the other was simply trying to live life protecting others. Garoth had been doing the same thing before he joined The Guild. The only difference was that he had responsible parents that got him branded as soon as possible. The tension in his hand eased, and eventually his arm hung limp at his side. He didn't want to kill this woman; it would haunt him in his dreams if he did. After several long moments of silent deliberation, he finally spoke. "Will you come willingly? If you come with me back to The Guild to be branded, I won't have to kill you." He prayed that she would have the sense to agree. He was already bending the rules as it was, and if he had to kill her, what would he tell his friends? That he took out a woman that was already dying of poison after she had just saved a shrine maiden? No, screw that. If this wolf didn't want to be branded he would kick her ass until she agreed.

Megumi looked at him, thinking it over quickly. Then she said "I will...but being branded is not going to be easy....but I will try...." She gasped and fell forward, her wound smoking as the pain got worse. She knew she was dead either way. The poison or go into the guild. Once this griffins bosses knew what she was, they may not give her the choice to be branded and just finish her off. But that death would be quick and almost painless. This poison want going to be as she felt her mind beg to black out. But she wouldn't give in like that. She had her mission, which she would carry out until her dying breath.

Garoth caught the wolf as she lurched forward, and then gently lowered her to the ground so that he could treat her, relieved that he didn't have to perform another execution. "It's easier than you think," he said as he reached into his vest and pulled out a vial filled with a brown powder and a roll of bandages. "I don't recall seeing any descriptions that resemble you on the notorious spirits log, so you should be fine." He pulled the cork off of the vial and began sprinkling the brown powder on the wound. "This stuff burns like hell, but when you've got poison in your blood, nothing works better. You might feel sick for a day or so, but after that you'll be fine." He completely coated the wound with the powder, then piled a bit more on, and finally wrapped it up tight with the bandage. She looked half dead now, but in a few hours he was sure the color would start returning to her face. He wasn't sure if she could even hear him anymore, but nonetheless he continued speaking. "I may not have much pull around The Guild just yet, but I'll do everything I can to make sure they give you a fair chance."

Megumi barely heard him as she felt the powder land on the wonder and the burning. Adding to the pain pushed her to her limit. When he said hoping to get her a fair chance, she looked at him, her eyes shifting to their gold silver color. "You don't know what the guild fears....I am...." Then she fell against him, passing out. She hadn't been in this kind of danger in a while, so the fight would bring back nasty memories....

Megumi ran hard, in her wolf form which a simple wolf cub as she heard the scream and yelling behind her. She looked at her father who was running next to her, ready to grab her if she couldn't run any more. "Just keep running, my pup. You can't let them catch you, not until we can seal your power safely inside your heart." Then they heard the cries of a siren and howls of werewolves. He father stopped, pulling her behind him. He knew time was running out. If they found her before she was strong to control her true form....he looked at her and licked her face. "Go into the wild, child....may the moonlight protect you..." She nodded and took off running, her father facing the ones chasing them with no fear....

Megumi turning her head, sweat running down her face as she muttered in her feverish sleep.

Garoth had one of the priests take a break from cleaning up the spider carcass and make a bed for Megumi, a task that the priest was all to happy to accomplish if it got him away from that mess. Even as he made sure she had a proper place to sleep, though, those last words of hers echoed in his head. You don't know what The Guild Fears... This was true; there was plenty he didn't know about The Guild. He was sure it had plenty of nasty secrets tucked away as "classified information" that only the upper echelons had access to, but even his superiors were good people. And he had seen a Council member in action once... those were people to be feared. If there was something that even they feared... He looked at the wolf, stirring about in pain as she slept. Maybe she held some kind of forbidden magic within her, but spirits can't help what they are born with. As long as she didn't try to hide what she was, no harm would come to her; he was sure of that.

Garoth dabbed Megumi's head with a cool rag as she slept to keep the fever down. "Tch, what am I doing," he mumbled to himself. "Playing nurse for an unbranded spirit... something tells me I'm going to regret this..."

After a few moments the door to the room opened and Lily poked her head inside. "I heard Lady Shade was ill because of the fight..." She walked in holding a jar filled with what looked like herbs. She held the jar out to the griffin and said "SHe told me once that spirits could be revived by the part of nature they are linked to. She showed me this and said its the holy ground of her pack...maybe this will help her feel better?" She looked at Lady Shade, concern on her face

Garoth smiled as Lily walked in with some herbs of her own. The medicine that he had applied should have been enough, but he didn't want to shoot the girl down when she was just trying to help her friend and he supposed a few extra herbs couldn't hurt. "I've heard similar things myself," Garoth said, "though I don't know how true that is, nor do I know much about herblore. The medicine I used is given to all Guild members and is made ready to use by a powerful alchemist. I am a hunter, not a healer. You could probably put those herbs to better use than I could." He moved back from Megumi, giving the young priestess some room to work if that was what she chose to do. He closed his eyes, thinking about how he would go forward from here once she woke up, but then another thought came to his mind. "Lily, how many people know that she's a spirit?"

Lily moved forward and opened the jar. "Just me. I was in the woods when I was little and I was attacked by a troll. I was so scared and thought I was going to be eaten. Then the shadows came alive and protected me. Next thing I knew the troll was gone and a beautiful wolf was standing over me. She licked my face and told me she would take me home. Ever since lady shade and I have been friends" she held the jar right under megumi's nose and blew on the ashes. The ashes moved around the air, flowing around her nose and Megumi stirred then a mark appeared on her forehead then faded. Lily smiled and said " she should wake soon now. She will feel better too"

Garoth was relieved to hear that only one person knew about Shade's identity. "Ok, I need you to listen carefully," Garoth said, his voice now taking on a more serious tone. "If anybody asks you what happened, tell them a griffin came and defeated the spider. Do not mention Lady Shade, or wolves, or shadows, or anything to anybody no matter what they say. Just a griffin. Do you understand?" Working with honest people was a double-edged sword. On the one hand, you could trust what they say; on the other, so could people you don't trust. He just hoped that the girl understood that this was not merely a matter of pride and that he was trying to avoid any unnecessary complications that could arise if rumors about another rogue spirit started to circulate. The girl was young, but hopefully she wasn't too naive to realize that unbranded spirits were hunted by the guild. Garoth took another look at Lady Shade; whether it was because of his medicine or Lily's herbs, she was starting to look much better. He took a deep breath. It looked like in a few minutes he'd have to make a story for Lady Shade as well.

Lily nodded and said " I understand, lady shade asked me to keep her secret to keep the village safe. And her safe. Well, she said it differently, she wanted to keep others safe from herself. I never understood that. All she ever did was help people... " suddenly Megumi moaned and opened her eyes, looking around and trying to sit up. "Lily? What is....oh my head hasn't hurt like this is years..."

Lily nodded and said " I understand, lady shade asked me to keep her secret to keep the village safe. And her safe. Well, she said it differently, she wanted to keep others safe from herself. I never understood that. All she ever did was help people... " suddenly Megumi moaned and opened her eyes, looking around and trying to sit up. "Lily? What is....oh my head hasn't hurt like this is years..."

Garoth nodded stoically as Lily told him about Lady Shade. She was a village guardian, just like he used to be, but again she seemed to be afraid of something. Why would a spirit be afraid of its own power? Just then, Lady Shade started to stir. It seemed he would have his answers soon enough. "Just take easy," Garoth said, urging Lady Shade to remain lying down for a while longer. "There's no hurry, and if you want to talk we're not going anywhere. If you're wondering why you're still alive, it's either because of The Guild's medicine or Lily's magic herbs. We gave you both, so I can't say which one worked better." He paused for a moment, letting Shade process everything before returning to the more uncomfortable question. "So, you haven't changed your mind, have you? You'll still be coming with me to be branded?" He would need to find out what secret she was hiding before he brought her to the HQ, otherwise it could be his head that rolled, but he still needed to make sure she was still willing otherwise it wouldn't even be an issue.