ruronihs

Those That Walk Among Us (ruronihs&MegaraFoxfire)

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..."

Those That Walk Among Us (ruronihs&MegaraFoxfire)

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."

Those That Walk Among Us (ruronihs&MegaraFoxfire)

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.

Those That Walk Among Us (ruronihs&MegaraFoxfire)

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?"

Those That Walk Among Us (ruronihs&MegaraFoxfire)

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.

Those That Walk Among Us (ruronihs&MegaraFoxfire)

That post was fine.

Those That Walk Among Us (ruronihs&MegaraFoxfire)

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.

Those That Walk Among Us (ruronihs&MegaraFoxfire)

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.

Those That Walk Among Us (ruronihs&MegaraFoxfire)

That sounds like a good way to start. Would you like to begin, or would you rather I start it off?

Those That Walk Among Us (ruronihs&MegaraFoxfire)

It's interesting that you say she hasn't been found by The Guild yet. Does this mean she doesn't have a brand? That could be a very interesting way to begin. Did you have an idea as to how you wanted to start off the RP?