[url=https://www.roleplayerguild.com/posts/5022268][img]https://i.imgur.com/yW2VDaL.png[/img][/url]
[h3]Eastern Yharnam, Hunter's clinic, reception[/h3]
Victor's eyes narrowed in disbelief at Marcus' words, stepping over the debris he had been searching and around the carved corpse of the mad Yharnamite he had slain earlier as he approached the entrance to the back room to see for himself. Surely this Hunter was exaggerating or miscounting, he reasoned. Far from everyone in this world had much of an education; even Victor himself struggled with counting things if there were too many, and only learned to read and write clumsily after joining his mercenary company in his late teens. It was quite possible that these random people could not count... though Marcus' demeanor and inquisitiveness did not feel in accordance with how someone ignorant would act.
He strode up to the mostly-empty doorway into the back of this clinic – for the first time fully realizing how thoroughly this seemingly quite sturdy door had been smashed to bits – and froze in place. Had he not been so dirtied with blood, the color draining from his face would have betrayed his shock and awe at the sight that met him. Not only was he surprised that Marcus had not been exaggerating, but the state of the room was much worse than he had assumed, too. Though most of the human forms in there were still on their cots, restless but undisturbed, there were quite a few overturned cots, obviously broken bones and, rather strangely and disconcertingly, what appeared to be at least one person's intestines scattered across the room.

Some ways away, across the room and toward the rightmost wall from Victor's perspective, his eyes fixed on one particular corpse that undeniably stood out: a person deeply corrupted by the scourge of beasts, mutated and enlarged almost to the point of being unrecognizable as having once been human.
Victor's breath caught in his throat, involuntarily impressed by the fact that these three fresh, inexperienced Hunters had managed to slay such a dangerous creature without even possessing proper Hunter gear. These wolf-men, as Victor had nicknamed this type of creature, were some of the most dangerous prey Victor was willing to face if given the choice; he was quite familiar with how hardy and powerful they could be. In fact, the only “normal” beasts that were worse than wolf-men were the actual full wolf-beasts, which Victor tended to flee from rather than try to fight, unless he was backed up by at least another couple of Hunters. Wolf-beasts had terrified him since his first encounter with one, when one had crippled him.

He tore his gaze from the dead wolf-man, glancing quickly at the newly awakened Hunter before turning back to Marcus. He cleared his throat. “Yes, well, it's usually a bad idea to move Hunters during their change, so it's probably for the best.” Then he had an idea.
He pointed at the dead wolf-man. “It's pretty impressive that you managed to kill that thing. Must've been tough for you.” He scratched the back of his head, doing his best to pretend to be thoughtful and apprehensive. “Well, since you used my last blood vial to save my life, how about we return the favor? The Bl-, uh, Lady Adelicia has extremely potent blood; a few drops and you should be back to full strength, regardless of how much you were wounded during the fight. It's a trek from here to the Cathedral Ward, and I'd frankly rather that you could defend yourselves.”

[hr]
As Victor finished speaking his offer of the Blood Saint's blood, a faint whooshing sound announced the appearance of another duo of Messengers in the reception, just a couple of steps from where Marcus was standing. The little creatures turned their eyeless faces toward him and, with combined efforts, offered Marcus another rolled-up piece of parchment.