Tess had been weeding the small vegetable garden she kept behind her house when a small child hurried up to her and delivered a message from her father.

"Poppa says ya gotta come to the hill up past the Mariogot homestead real fast," the child spoke quickly and then dashed away, roughly in the direction of the aforementioned hill.

Tess blinked at this, utterly confused, and brushed her hands against her skirt. She was not dressed in her priestly robes and she considered changing, but there seemed to be some urgency in the matter and she didn't think she'd have any official duties to perform on a hill in the middle of practically nowhere. She did splash some water over her face and hands, however. No use running around covered in dirt.

She set off on a brisk pace towards the Marigot homestead. A lady never ran, but a priest was not called upon with such urgency unless someone was injured or possessed. All in all, an injury was much more likely.

She was nearly out of breath when she passed the stout two-storey house that belonged to the Marigots and started climbing the hill towards the group she saw on top. At least seven men were gathered, a couple of women and a whole gaggle of children, who were being shooed away constantly, but did not move more than a few paces before slowly inching closer again to stare at... something.

As she approached, a few eyes turned to her. The mayor was there, just as flushed-faced as her, looking entirely overdressed as always, in his tailcoat and tophat. The Marigots, Wenda and Kyle, were there as well, standing to the side. Wenda looked absolutely inconsolable, but the woman was well-known for her histrionics and was thus not a good gauge for the gravity of the situation. Bill Thompsy, the Marigots' neighbor, however, was quite level-headed and looked quite grim as he turned towards Tess and gestured for her to approach.

"Oh, Mrs. Clearwell, you're here," he said loudly, more to draw the others' attention than to address her.

She finally came within view of the group's focal point-- a dead animal of some sort. Surely she hadn't been called to heal someone's livestock?...

But a man she'd never seen before was standing within the group. He looked unkempt, his brown hair greasy and unwashed, his clothes caked with dust and dried mud, and he carried a blunderbuss on his shoulder. It did not take the wolf that stood by his side to tell her that he was a hunter.

"Why was I called?" she asked and finally took a good look at the dead creature at the ground. Her eyes widened and her jaw slacked. "Oh..."

"Now you see," Bill Thompsy nodded gravely.

The creature was riddled with small wounds and nearly torn to shreds, but some details were still clear. It had the body of a boar with dark brown fur, but the head...Oh, Light, what is that? Tess thought, fighting down the bile that rose to her mouth. The head was horribly malformed, strange fleshy growths sprouting out from under the fur. She leaned to get a closer look, but the creature chose that moment to twitch spasmodically and let out a disgusting hacking sound, like its lungs were coming apart.

"Careful, priestess," the hunter said mildly, "it's not quite dead yet."

Grinning slightly, he searched through his weather-worn green jacket and finally took out a pipe. He clasped this in his teeth and next took out a small tin box.

"How is it not dead yet?" Tess asked, choosing to scold him on his unhealthy habits some other time. "It looks thoroughly mauled."

"Eh, Kerrie was a bit overenthusiastic," the hunter shrugged, patting his wolf's head. "But it still took a whole damn lot to take the thing down. It even tried to run away, but we got it before it reached that house. I'm afraid I still raised quite a ruckus, because before I knew it, this lot showed up." He grimaced and gestured towards the assembled villagers.

"What is it?" Tess asked, frowning at the creature. Now that she knew it was alive, she noticed its rapid, shallow breathing.

"Actually... We were hoping you could tell us," Mayor Kerligan coughed nervously.

"Me?" Tess tilted her head, curious as to what chain of thought had led to the conclusion that she was most qualified for this job.

"It's a boar," one man, Hank Dunvoy, snorted derisively.

"It's not nearly as big as any boar I ever seen in Gilneas," the hunter grumbled.

This was probably an old dispute, because everybody exploded into an argument, each one voicing their opinion as loudly as possible. Finally, Bill Thompsy whistled sharply to get their attention and everybody fell into a sullen silence.

"We called ya," Bill finally explained to Tess, "'cause we figure it's some sorta twisted beast and we also figure that a priest might know if it's... well..."

"A demon," Hank Dunvoy supplied when Bill started hesitating.

Mayor Kerligan let out a distraught sound upon hearing the word and took out a handkerchief, dabbing at his sweaty forehead.

Tess bit her lip and looked down at the creature.

"Well, I can try," she said slowly, "but I'm not one of those fancy Northshire priests, so I don't have any idea how much good that'll do."

"Just do yer best," someone from the crowd chimed.

Tess nodded and approached the creature, though not too much. She kneeled down and her hands hovered over the beast, glowing faintly. Everybody tensed as she closed her eyes and concentrated. Even the children, who'd been chattering in the background, each with their own theory, fell silent.

The light connected all living creatures, to a point. Animals were not as deeply present in the Light as sentient beings, but if you sought something, you were sure to find it. It was like looking at a tapestry and trying to find a thread of a particular colour. And sure enough, the muddled and fading life underneath the gory body felt as if had belonged to a forest creature, once. Tess tried to make sense of it now, but whatever had perverted this creature was elusive, hard to grasp. It was a force that felt... vaguely arcane, from what she knew from her studies, but much more malevolent.

With a final, quiet gasp, the creature died and Tess's eyes flew open. Blood was bubbling around what could generously be called the creature's mouth and with a twitch of the lip, Tess took several steps back.

"Not a demon," she proclaimed finally. Everybody seemed to relax a bit and Mayor Kerligan let out a dramatic sigh of relief. "It used to be a boar, I think, but it was struck by what I think was either a disease or a curse."

Everybody gave the cooling corpse a lingering look.

"Told ya it's a boar," Hank Dunvoy muttered with a smirk.

"Yeah, but what turned a boar into that?" Kyle Marigot asked, the last word dripping with disgust.

"Beats the hell outta me," Bill Thompsy shrugged.

Everyone fell silent for a moment, staring down at the abominable creature. Finally, someone suggested burning the mutated animal and everybody broke off to find firewood.

Tess, the mayor and several others left after that, but by the time she reached the village, it was dark and looking back, she could see the fire on the hillside. The changing winds carried a foul stench to the village and she quickly retreated to her home.