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Lessons to be Learned

Drip. One of life's greatest tricks was allowing you to think that things were going well. Drip. 'Everything will be okay' was a filthy lie, Vesli decided. Drip went the blood off Its claws as they stared in incomprehension at the corpses in front of them. The closest one was wearing a mildew-green outfit and a bone-white avian mask. The entirety of the corpse below the waist was gone. How? To their left was about a fourth of a torso clad in was once black leather and cloth. Where the rest was, they did not know. Why? To their right black and scarlet shreds covering what looked to be ground meat. Neither could remember. In the back, there was a heavy chest-plate with strips that looked vaguely purple still filled with a chest, and missing everything else. Their minds tried and failed to pierce the sinister fog clouding their thoughts. "See! I knew this creature would be the death of us all!" His Holy Bastard cried from where he lay gutted and dying a slow miserable death. They noticed sinister movement of fire behind the crusader just as the smell of rot and putrid smoke filled their nostrils. The Hamlet was ablaze like some form of twisted collapsing pyre. What once had been a slowly recovering town was now a destroyed, blood-drenched battlefield.

"Everyone will know what you are," Her Holy Bitch choked out over the blood in her throat. They tried to move. To claim that this wasn't them! Pain flared, arrowheads still stuck in their chest and back. Someone had gotten their chest with a longsword. Likely the crusader who was starting death throws.

Slow applause. "Well done, Abomination," purred the Big Bastard from the Tower, "I knew you would make a great weapon one day". No! They had killed him! They were sure of it! This cannot be real! They refused! NO!

"Rrrrragh!" It broke free of the Stressful Incantation the weak bitch prey-thing had thought to use on It. Bitch. Would! Pay! Its teeth found purchase in her throat and It tore. It ripped! It rended the bitch's prey thing meat from bone! It only stopped when there was nothing left to shred.

Its head turned to survey the pack. "Rrolf," It grumbled, displeased. The weak prey things of the Weald had them barely surviving. Vesli admitted to himself now that he should've payed attention to how this day was going. But he hadn't, and here they were, fighting a losing battle for their lives.

"What are you looking at, freak?" Rat snapped at him, the man's hair frazzled.

"Watch it," Aela growled, bumping into Rat as she moved over to check on him as Bird was trying to calm them down and he took back control from It. Sending an untrusting look towards Rat, they moved on.

"You see anything off about him?" Vesli whispered while panting, flicking his eyes back towards Tulles as they continued.

"You talking about me, monster?" Rat growled, eyes wide and hateful.

"Yes. Documented situation. Affliction from too much stress. He is now abusive," Bird informed and, before Vesli could respond, Tulles ran past them towards a small group of giant spiders and began cackling as he killed them.

"Yeah... I can see that..." Aela deadpanned as the spiders quickly died under the brutal assault.

"Let's get through this then and hope we can snap him out of it... or that the Heir's chosen treatment won't be gentle," Vesli murmured to the girls before they dragged off a protesting Tulles.

"There should be a clearing up ahead," Bird informed them as she checked the map and the notes of others who had been near here. "We could camp there."

"Sounds good," the man said with a sigh of relief at the chance to rest, "Let's just hope we don't run into anything el-" A horrifying screech cut him off as two fungal-zombies charged towards them, their diseased footsteps thudding against the ground while a pair of fungal-spider-things skittered in their wake.

"Of course," Aela growled, hefting her glaive, "Let's make these bastards bleed and be done with it!" Knowing the fungal monsters possessed an innate resistance to poisons, Bird started bringing out her Invigorating Vapors to enhance everyone else's own abilities. Aela charged the first zombie and started hacking at it, rending deep bleeding gouges in the shambling monster.

Focusing on the fungal-spiders, Vesli swung his chain, striking the thing across the face as the creature screeched in pain. The frail body, not meant to withstand focused onslaught, quickly collapsed and died under his assault as Aela finished off her scratcher. Looking around, the man saw the last fungus-zombie thrashing on the ground in pain as Rat tortured it, carving chunks out bit by bit with a knife while the bastard's tentacles held the monster down.

Grabbing Rat by his shoulder, Vesli yanked the abusive man back and growled, It slipping through a hair. "What the hell is wrong with you?!" he demanded, even as the Scratcher scrambled away, crying in pain and fear. Rat never got a chance to answer. From the clearing, just ahead, the one that the tortured fungus-zombie had fled to, an enraged screech echoed out and a monster the likes of which Vesli had never seen came forth, an army of fungus-zombies and fungal-spiders in its, well judging from the anatomy her, wake. The monster had thin bony arms, clutching a knife and a voodoo doll while mushrooms grew from her back. A seemingly empty hood hid her face, if she even possessed one, the top of her hood made from an ox skull. Clutching the monster's leg, like a scared child would its mother, was the tortured scratcher that pointed at Tulles. The empty sockets of the skull turned and fixed the Occultist with a menacing empty gaze. The Voodoo Fungus Mother started doing something and that something had Its hackles rising in warning.

"Damn it, run!" Vesli yelled, leaping back to avoid the marking mushrooms from the fungal-spiders as the zombies swarmed Tulles. The Occultist didn't seem fazed, laughing manically while sending out sky-ghost tentacles. Some of the fungus-zombies were felled but many more broke past the barrage and drug Tulles to their mistress. Not planning to stick around to watch, Vesli transformed, and the two personalities turned, grabbing Aela and Bird and tossed the two females over their shoulder as they took off back the way the group had come. The last sight was the monster using her knife to do to Tulles what the Occultist had done to the zombie. As the two ran they let out a pained yell as roughly a half dozen markers from the fungal-spiders embedded in their back, barely missing the two girls. However, the sentient fungi refocused on Tulles, the one who had tortured one of their own. Even once out of sight, the squelching sounds of Tulles being ripped apart echoed through the forest, along with the occultists insane cackling screams that suddenly came to a shattering silence.

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Vesli panted as It receded, leaving the man as himself again. He'd released the girls once they'd gotten back in sight of the Hamlet, and the females kept a death-like silence. Vesli didn't break it either. They would have to truly be back amongst the Hamlet's buildings to be relatively safe from the creatures. Even then, the three of them could only expect the Heir's wrath at failing this task. By the fucking Light, they barely had two torches to light their way, let alone anything of remote value to 'sell' to the Caretaker. It was Bird who finally took the lead of the dazed group, ushering them onwards and away from the Weald.

"Oho~! Back empty handed, are we?" the Caretaker gave a wheezing laugh "And one short! My, my, your chances of remaining employed are quite slim!"

"We will trade," Bird interjected.

"Trade?" The Caretaker's dark almost socket-like eyes flashed with interest.

"We offer new information. In exchange, we want leniency," the Doctor replied. Thank the Light Bird had a brain, even if it was scattered most of the time. The Heir had preset punishments for lighter offenses. Normally this utter failure would result in the Heir giving a personal reprimand for each of them. But if they managed to talk well enough, Vesli was sure they'd be able to just have the Caretaker issue of the presets instead.

"Interesting~! Share this information then, and let's see if it's good enough to spare you," the Caretaker gave a wide shark-like smile, making a tent out of his fingers as he leaned across the Supply Store's counter.

"We found a new creature in the Weald," Vesli moved to stand beside Bird. "It was… unnerving."

"That thing is what killed off Tulles after the Spirits claimed his mind," Aela came up to the counter as well.

"An Affliction and a new monster? How unfortunate for you! Describe this 'new' creature to me. Let's see how well your story stands up to the records," the Caretaker was clearly enjoying this.

"Records?" Bird questioned.

"Why yes~ My previous employer, the Heir's glorious Ancestor, left quite extensive records of the things that started to populate his estate. Let's see if you find this creature there, shall we?" The Curator moved to unlock a door.

"What if this thing was formed after those records?" Vesli had a sinking feeling in his gut.

"Oh? Do you wish to change your story? Because I assure you, every monster and thief in these lands has been recorded at some point. I, of course, have made new additions to the records when needed. It's part of my duties here. You lot haven't even seen half of the things I have!" The Caretaker gave a shrill laugh. "Go on, start describing. I'll look in the records on Weald creatures." The trio shared an uneasy look with one another but slowly began to recount the thing that they'd seen. The Caretaker's frown grew more pronounced as he grabbed certain books and flipped through them. There was a thud, accompanied by a shower of dust as an old journal covered in disturbing leather was deposited on the counter.

"That's it," the group said in unison as they looked on the sketched image of the Voodoo Mother.

"How curious~ These do not typically bother any but those who adventure into the darkest depths of the Weald. Your journey should not have included her." The Caretaker seemed almost disappointed. "And your likelihood of simply creating one of the sisters from fiction is very… slim."

"There's more?" Vesli shuddered.

"Of course there are, silly whelp. The Hateful Virago are the daughters of the Hag, and they are perhaps the deadliest thing in the Weald, unless you count their mother."

"We didn't find her. She found us," Bird informed the wizened creature that was still frowning at the image of the Virago (even if Vesli was still calling those things Voodoo Mothers in his mind).

"Explain." The order was stiletto sharp.

"We ran into a group of slimes, a madman, and a cultist," Vesli could use the proper names of things if he must. "Tulles became Abusive. Then in his madness, he started to torture one of the scratchers instead of simply killing it. The Virago appeared in response, and killed Tulles."

"The scratchers are akin to pets or children for the Virago. You three are very lucky that she stopped at him." The Caretaker put the journal away and locked the door again. His spindly fingers tapped the counter wood. "No stress relief activities until after your next successful errand," he finally decreed. Vesli had to hold in the sigh of relief. One of the preset punishments.

"Yes sir," the group answered before dispersing, not wanting the Caretaker to change his unstable mind.

The trio limped and hobbled their way back into the Hamlet proper. With most of the activities barred to them, they had little choice but to retreat to their respective rooms and slowly recover there.

The next day Bird and Aela both showed up at Vesli's bedside with stubborn looks on their faces. Well, a stubborn look on Aela's face. The man could only guess at Bird's expression under her mask. Besides, everything was a little fuzzy today, the rabies making him about as functional as a wet piece of paper.

"You are going to get treated," Bird offered no argument.

"Nn," he gave what felt like an acceptable 'no, go away' motion. In reality, the man had just kind of flopped his hand at the two girls.

"Thought you would protest," the Doctor ignored his gesture. "I of course am too small to easily move someone of your size. Especially when you will be a deadweight."

"Which is why she enlisted me," Aela smirked, before reaching down and tossing Vesli over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes. Too sick to really fight this humiliation, the man could only watch the hallways go by as the duo carried him out of the barracks and up the Sanitarium steps. He gave a plaintive pleading whimper, not too proud to beg for mercy.

"Know that Sanitarium not your favorite. Unable to treat rabies myself however. Prefer you alive and not sick," Bird patted his head as one of the nurses dressed in sterile white approached them.

"Feel better. It's easier to picture us having some fun when you're well," Aela deposited him. Several more of the ghost-like workers appeared and took poor Vesli from the two females, dragging him back to the medical ward.

The sight of those needles had It instantly crawling under his skin.

"Abomination reacts negatively to sight of medical equipment. Make a note of that. But we need him human. Up dose to ten CCs." The clinical voice was not familiar, not did Vesli really have time to process it before he got a needle jabbed in his blind spot.

It raged for about .5 seconds. Then It dropped like a stone. The man was not long to follow the beast into unconsciousness.