Open Chronicles Of Wine and Blood

[Aratus Seldomus]

THE FIELDS

TWO MILES OUTSIDE THELIOS

FIVE DAYS AGO...

​

The Guardsmen had been called to investigate yet another mysterious string of death of livestock. Animal attacks this far out were common, expected. Wolves occasionally could prowl if they hungered enough. But very rarely did they occur of this... magnitude. Aratus crouched over a dead cattle, examining the wounds. He'd seen and delivered sword wounds before- and these looked like the makings of a blade. The cuts were too clean, precise. He'd say that they were done with a sword but-

It looked as if a claw had cut through the poor cattle in one go. The blood was gone- all of it. From every single cattle. All three of them. The wife of the farmer had called the Guardsmen out this far, concerned after the string of attacks. It was a reasonable concern, after all. The farmer was aging, reaching the point that he would move back into the city. The farm would fall to the next person who bought the land, and the growth would continue.

But the sanctity and protection of the food sources of Thelios was paramount to the success, and more importantly, survival of the city. And this was a threat now to the people. But even the mighty Alltharians could be scared at times. It was a reasonable concern, and concern came from a place of fear. Aratus was no different. Whatever beast did this was a threat now to the city itself. For it was cattle today... but later on, it could be all of them.

Aratus rose to a stand by pushing down on his spear, adjusting the shield on his back. He marched over to the farmer, who was glancing around. He was calling out a name, which made Aratus narrow his eyes. He looked up at the sky. Barely a few hours in the morning, albeit with a cloudy overhead. His worst fear came to light, when he realized that the other two Guardsmen he was with were also missing.

Completely silent, completely deadly.

Aratus angled his spear downward, marching to the edge of the fence and to a nearby tree that was dead for the coming frost. His feet twisted, spotting something that made him very uncomfortable. Three corpses, standing over a cattle. Their necks were opened in the back. Whoever, or whatever attacked them, slit their necks in the back, and drained them like the cattle before them. Aratus stiffened, turning to run back to the farmer.

But in his absence, he found the farmer pinned to the wall by his sword. Drained all the same.

Aratus looked around, glancing around, expecting whatever devil did this to get him. So Aratus did what all Alltharians would've done. He drew his shield, and stood fast behind it, holding tightly onto his spear. If he was to die, he would die and go to the Ether knowing he at least died on his feet and fighting.

As he stood there, for what felt like an eternity, nothing happened. Nothing, and nothing. He stood there for roughly an hour, scanning all the while. The Devil had left, and with it, four Alltharians to the Ether, and however many cattle. Aratus began to suspect that it was always after the flesh of the Alltharians- or their blood.

Aratus returned to the city, and to the Great Hall of Thelios. Thelios was in danger, of something they did not understand. No legends foretold of any beast, of any monstrosity of this caliber, of this size. So the Thelios Council put it to a vote, and did something that not many Alltharians were comfortable doing: seeking an outsider's help. But, pragmatic and practical people- they sent out an envoy with a letter.

To the so-called Monster Hunting Guild.

The letter was as follows, and in it's entirety-

We, the people of Thelios, have a monster, please come help us kill it. We do not know what it is. We will pay you. We will pay for your passage. Return with the emissary we sent on his ship.

- Thelios

Along with an emissary by the name of Verus, an equally abrasive man, with the letter to explain the situation further, if they so desired, but more importantly, to act as their guide, and protector, if they so decided to come to Thelios. The ship itself would be sent with him, and docked close as they could to the Monster Hunters so that they may have an easier time returning to Eaglehead, across the Gulf.

Present Day​

Aratus stood on the pier, watching the ship of the Emissary roll into the bay. It was a brighter day, and since the letter, two more attacks came. Farmers were rightfully cautious about tending to their crops, and with the frost fast approaching, it was important for them to be able to safely harvest their fruits and stow away the plants for the winter. But, fearful of their lives, most had to do it during the light of day, and with an armed Guardsmen. It took assets away from the city, and the vagabonds took notice.

More people causing ruckus on the street than usual, avoiding the Guardsmen. So the people of Thelios had to step in more than once lately. And to a Guardsmen, any citizen of Thelios raising arms or taking offense when they needed not to, was a great offense to their profession.

So Aratus, along with many other Guardsmen, were eagerly awaiting the return of the Emissary. The Scouts were the ones to report the return of the Emissary's ship.

"You think he's came back with help or trouble?" Asked one guard. Aratus tapped his foot, his arms crossed as the ship came in.

"Hopefully both." Aratus said gruffly back, watching the Captain of the Guard, Anysia, waited for their (hopefully) hired help to arrive. She stood tall, with her hands neatly folded behind her back. The truth was, the sword on her side was mainly for show. Anyone who knew Anysia, knew that if a problem arose- she beat the person into submission. Despite only being six feet tall, Anysia could throw any man a good distance, and was known to break teeth and jaw with a single punch.

Like most Alltharian women, truthfully. But she took special pride in breaking foreigner's jaws that disobeyed the laws and caused dissent. She equally enjoyed setting them down a peg. While most other cultures were dominated by men in most cases, the Alltharians valued only one attribute: strength. Strength and power were not directly born from the weight one could carry, or the amount of stones they could lift, but the strength that turned people from regular citizens into soldiers. Only a select few had it in them. Anysia was such a person, to be called to the life as a soldier. Her skill was her strength, her speed and precision with a blade and bow well-known. And even she was worried about the Devil, the creature that had been giving pause to even the most hardened Alltharian warriors in worry.

Alltharian's were naturally superstitious, so, this situation was obviously not very well liked.

But the help? The help was appreciated. One of the rare times that outsiders would be slightly welcome in Thelios.

The Wine needed to be made, after all.

 

[Trahaearn]

Trahaearn had heard the call for help, turned away from a few enticing contracts for the opportunity to see something that had possibly not been seen before. It was something to kill a monster, another entirely to capture it. Yet a golden opportunity to be one of the first to study, see, or even square off with the thing?

He smiled, which was rare for the typically somber man.

Having met with others from his guild, the now leather and chainmail clad man had enjoyed the sailing. He hand't worn any of his armor for the trip, knowing full well just how quickly damning a fall into the water would have been in it.

The short sword and hatchet hung on the same side, his back carrying a hand and a half sword with a silvered edge. His eyes scanned the shoreline, disappointed by the gathering of people there. He hated meeting with people about the problem, but it always helped to learn what little people could offer.

Being scared and absolutely blind to what needed to be looked for, or not in some cases, made information from people sometimes lackluster. Other times downright misleading and harmful. He hoped with some grain of salt these people had a far keener idea of what they needed than most.

 

[Heike Eisen]

"They're all gone!"

"Gone."

Heike and a lone man, his hands tied behind his back with a horse-hair cord, in the basement of the farmhouse. There were supposed to be four others. All of them wanted by the city of Elbion. Swindlers and bottom-feeding thieves, stealing through guile and deception rather than force. One too many slip-ups, and that got them noticed, and that in turn brought Heike to their hideout. What she found was disappointing.

"Yeah," said the lone man. "All gone."

He was sweating profusely; she could smell it. Good. The fear would make him more pliable. He'd already seen her fangs, he knew what she was. "Are they in the city?"

"No, no, no, no, no." He closed his eyes and cracked his neck and opened his eyes again. "Hey. Look, uh, sorry, didn't catch your name...?"

A puff of air from her nose; a rare echo of life. "Heike."

"Heike. Hello. Nice to meet you. I'm Ranald. We, uh, we got off on the wrong foot, right? But don't, don't, you know, think we can't be--" A nervous laugh "--civil about this, right? Right. So. Let's make a deal, heh heh."

"I'm listening."

"Now look, here's, here's how you know I'm gonna tell you the truth, right? Take a look inside my shirt."

A laugh caught in Heike's throat. "No."

"No tricks. Just--here, look, see." Ranald bent forward and all of his necklaces spilled out and dangled from his neck. All of gods and goddess of Celestialism, and plenty Heike didn't even recognize. "I'm a true believer. A good guy at heart."

"Two questions."

"Sure." He seemed eager.

"How the fuck do you sneak up on anybody?"

"Very carefully."

"And which of those gods was meant to save you from this?"

"I've been a bad boy as of late."

"Good to see all that devotion paying off."

"Anyway..." Ranald stood up straight again. "I can tell you where the others have gone. Four's better than one, right? That and a little something extra. Something a..." He awkwardly cleared his throat, "...vampire like you might be interested in. Just don't bite me. I have a crippling fear of...just don't bite me, I don't care about anything else, just for the love of all that's holy, don't bite me. Deal?"

Always quick to make deals, these outlaws. Their lack of loyalty was appalling. "Fine. Deal."

"Hey. Good. See? We can agree on things. I would say we shake on it, but, you know, the...the, uh..." He looked down at her claws and up at her eyes and down at her claws and up at her eyes and--

"I'm aware."

"Good, good, we're getting somewhere, you and I." Ranald grinned cordially. A bead of sweat dripped from his chin to the floor. "They went north. To the Eaglehead, big out-of-the-way town called Thelios."

"I haven't heard of it."

"Well that'd make two of us if a ship from there hadn't come to Elbion yesterday. Emissary from there named Verus looking for help. They got some kind of monster problem. The boys all saw opportunity for scams and schemes and what-have-you--towns with problems are always ripe--but I said we got it good here still. They went, I stayed. You know there's other enterprising lads going that way too. Always are."

He was right. Thieves, raiders, and outlaws of any variety were like scavengers, Savannah hyenas picking off the weak. They flocked to instability and turmoil like a crow to carrion, exacerbating the suffering of the good and the innocent.

That did pique her interest, yes. But there was another detail she wanted clarification on. "What kind of monster problem are they having in Thelios?"

Confused laughter. "Heh heh. Ha. Uh, what's it to you? I don't...I genuinely don't know why you'd--"

"Answer the question."

"Okay. Okay. Short answer: they don't know. Less short answer: some cows or something and I think people too, not sure--heh, rumors, second-hand information, you know how it is, heh. Well, they were found drained of their blood. All of it. That's what Verus said. Supposedly. I wasn't there in person, so...take that how you will."

Heike's eyes widened. Her nostrils flared.

"Please don't kill me."

She reined in the anger, the hatred. "I'm not going to kill you, Ranald."

"It was the eyes. Yellow is a very intimidating color, you know. There's something really fucked about--"

Heike made her decision. Said, "Did that ship leave already?"

"The one with Verus? Yes. But that's not my fault. You wouldn't want to be on that boat, anyway. From what I heard it was crawling with Monster Hunters. Which, you know, means Thelios is going to be crawling with Monster Hunters in a few--"

"We're taking another boat."

"We?"

Heike stepped forward and hovered her hand over Ranald's face, the tips of her claws separated by a hair's width from his skin. "Yes. We. And you're going to be doing most of the talking. Will that be a problem?"

"No. No problem."

She waited. Just long enough to see him visibly tremble.

Then drew her hand back and cut him loose from the bindings about his wrists and covered her mouth with her mask again. "Good. Then we'll be off to Thelios."

 

[Aratus Seldomus]

The ship docked, and the first image of Thelios to the first visitors was the stern faces of the Alltharian people. To those not versed in their culture, the most shocking part was how... soldiery each of them looked. Male or female, each looked like a capable warrior of the higher caliber. That, and the fact that they had a typically brooding expression.

Hard to say what it was for, the weather, the situation, or the fact that they were distracted from their regular work. The Alltharians were pragmatic and practical, and deviations from the normality of their day-to-day caused no small amount of grumbling.

The Captain of the Guard was the first to speak from the people of Thelios. She was as powerful in her speech as she was in stature, six feet tall- as tall, or taller than the men and women of Thelios. Equality of the sexes was not a question in Thelios, it was your worth as a person. The sexes usually determined the dress- although men and women wore skirts. Other than that- well, it came to what you were doing. She coughed. She had an accent, as all the people of Thelios did- when not speaking their native tongue.

"Welcome to Thelios. I am Anysia. These are my soldiers. We look forward to your help."

Verus walked up beside Anysia, and whispered in her ear. She scowled for a moment, then cleared her throat and spoke again.

"Aratus will take you to the site of the attacks. He was there. He will help you. He wants to kill it."

Even the hardest of the Athallians shuffled slightly when she mentioned the Devil. The Devil became the phenomenon to end all phenomenons- after all, it was not everyday that someone was cut open and drained dry, if ever. Thelios had it's share of raiders and bandits and pirates- in fact, there were plans in motion to eliminate a coven of pirates and smugglers off their shores..but never so much as monsters. Monsters in Eaglehead were long distant whispers. Things away from their shores. Stories told to children and at festivals.

Now, they had a beast unlike any other. But most of them simply wished it dead and gone, and forgotten. They had no use for superstitions that weren't their own. This was a problem for the city of Thelios, and the solution would be found at the end of a blade, or whatever the Monster Hunters recommended. And they would be paid, and they would leave.

Or at least, that was the hope. But like all things, it was never as easy as it was presented, was it?

Aratus stepped forward, scanning the gathered Hunters before speaking.

"We will walk. It will be a short walk. Bring water."

His eyes blankly scanned the gathered company, as if to stop and wait for any questions before continuing.

 

[Heike Eisen]

Another ship docked at port in Thelios.

Ranald had someone recommended to him, one Captain Irons, and the recommendation was sound. Captain Irons capitalized on the interest surrounding the far away town of Thelios after the emissary's visit and loaded his vessel with enough intrigued passengers from Elbion to make a sizable profit. Heike and Ranald were among them.

Between Captain Irons' lean and mostly unladen ship and numerous bouts of favorable winds, they eventually caught up with the emissary Verus' own boat. Good fortune, being separated by some distance on the docks from that boat and all the Monster Hunters thereon.

Heike and Ranald stood behind the small crowd of passengers on Irons' ship, waiting for it to be secured so that they might disembark. Both of them wore hooded traveling cloaks drawn shut about their whole bodies and giving them each the appearance of a monk or priest. Adding to the look and much to Heike's chagrin, they openly wore necklaces with symbols to the divine; Ranald with an amulet to Tychan, Heike with an amulet to Drakon on "loan" from Ranald.

Worse, it was an oppressively bright day. Heike had her head canted forward as if in mourning, her hood swaying with the slow motion of the ship. Direct sunlight touching her skin here in the city would spell near-certain doom.

Ranald leaned toward Heike and whispered, "Where are we going after we get off?"

"Out of the city," she whispered back.

"But its so pretty."

A quick elbow to his side. That small rustle of her cloak.

Ranald winced. "Okay. Okay. Don't have to tell me twice. Or elbow me twice."

The sailors were nearly done with their work.

"Whatever you do," Ranald said, "don't smile."

"Shut up."

Ranald had gotten far too comfortable with her presence during the voyage. That sweaty fear long gone and an almost insufferably jovial demeanor in its place, as if he'd forgotten the nature of their relationship, one purely transactional. The deal struck, renegotiated to include his freedom if he aided her up until the monsters of Thelios were found, and it still stood.

She did have her mask down, though. A tactic to look more natural, like any other traveler. The cloak hid her body down to her shoes, the hood shadowed her face, so the mask on top of all that was oftentimes a bit much. Seeing a whole face was reassuring. She'd learned to talk in a way that didn't expose her fangs; low and quiet, small and demure movements of the lips, a soft-spoken persona. Only on the rare occasion did her perceived shyness while doing this attract more attention.

The sailors were done. Irons' ship was secure, and the passengers--eager merchants looking for exotic wears, adventurers not necessarily of the Monster Hunter variety, and other travelers--began to disembark.

Heike stepped onto the dock first. Then Ranald.

"Hey," he whispered.

She raised her head enough to look at him from under her brow and hood.

"The Monster Hunters are talking to some of the locals." Ranald squinted. "What the fuck is he wearing?"

"Walk," Heike said. "Slowly."

He hesitated, then did as she asked. She walked behind him. And he whispered back, "Don't you think it'd be good to, you know, follow them?"

"We are. Keep going slow. Let them pass."

"Stick to the story if there's questions?"

"You do that."

They shuffled along. Two cloaked figures with religious necklaces walking slowly down the dock.

 

[Trahaearn]

The grumblings of dock workers went unnoticed, his attention fixed on what he assumed was the leader of the guards currently. He had no qualms about being addressed by a woman, staring at her for a moment before checking the gear of every one around her in a broad sweep of his gaze. He took in both land and people, getting a fair idea of the conditions and how the people armed themselves.

He stood before the woman and listened politely, his expression not shifting as he spoke.

"I am Trahaearn. I look forward to ridding you of your monster problem." He obliged the woman, giving her a small nod before she listened to someone speak. It didn't seem to please her, but how much had happened in the time it had taken to send the missive for help? Had other's been attacked, or had some other details come to light about the thing that they wanted gone.

He wouldn't find out standing on the docks.

"Very well." Trahaearn replied quickly, sensing more than seeing the shift in the people around him when the beast was merely mentioned. Folk without legends tended to be skittish, but this was nearing absurd in his opinion. Whatever the reason for their lack of folklore involving monsters, he wasn't about to go spreading any fantastic tales of creatures from far off lands. He was here to capture, or kill a monster. Not spread stories about other ones.

"What is your water source and where can I refill on water?" He spoke, one of his concerns coming to the forefront. Monsters were like everything else typically, they needed water just like everything else that existed in a living body. If you could find the water sources, you could find the things fairly quickly.