Being left alone and unchallenged for the rest of the march to the city limits. Machine military drones watched their approaching of the entry, took one scan of the situation and turned a blind eye. Letting the entire party of hunters into the outskirts city freely. None of the normal pat down, scans, pocket checks or even the listing inventory on a mandatory from. This wasn't bypassed. She sent the data ahead of them, from bio health scanning data, what people hid in there backpacks and the approval to allow entry was sent ahead in plenty of time to not need waiting. Walking straight past without security protocols has made everyone on edge.
She has been for a significant time carried like a price doll. She had to shrink mini figurine sized to give back his hand. Riding on his shoulder beside the snow white kitten, using her doll lap as a pillow. She has been petting the sweet kitten for a while.
In terms of her mad ranting back before, has long been recounted among themselves as useless information. She leans on Ravens neck, the only free hand not petting a kitten is tapping the air in front of her. Has been putting lists of merchandise up for exchange. Some are automatic transfer by pushing items in the crystal and out through the crystal. Majority of the messages she had; was asking her to meet in shady pitch in back alleys or in back of drinking taverns. She paid little attention about the party wishes meanwhile making no promises with the messages of the networks. Even less of her interest was bothers upon, when they came into a hunter guild branch.
As it was for the university campus conversion, this was a local library that been gutted into a open space of tables. There was counters along the walls for guild staff exchange points. There was a standing space to hire bodies for jobs. There was four unique counters at corners of the room; different desks that specializes corpse buying. One of those four is the human remains specialized guy, takes lost hunter id tags and any personal items to confirm death with. One is a plant guy. One monster meat guy. The last butcher is a scrap metal and still named a butcher due to keen interest of getting robot and military scrap.
"Meet back at the a table." They left their own separate ways. Raven stood still looking at everything. Looking at the tells he always did. She sees the whole party has already taken a butcher table each for what they have. They had ahead of time divided goods to make this task easier to manage. Bargain on the buy back prices.
He sees the outcomes of their efforts in the little curtain monsters. The things that are the manifestation of good, bad and protection over individuals. His gift granted as a voice to Omens.
She was highly amused of a war happening at the other side of the room. Seeing a scarp fight of two protection types. Rival hunter parties having a word spat across the room. She was enjoying the show plenty as much as Bjorn did. The kitten half awake, slit eyes pacing between the rival parties. Bjorn was watching limbs and body language. She watched the energy of words and the impact of magic / divine casting system. She sees the clouds of released soul plumbs, as this was the same energy casted when someone has a nightmare.
"We will have a rankers duel!" Declared at full volume that turned any heads left from not watching the fight. The person in charge of the guild space stepped around from his counter, who was talking about jobs with a high bracket hunter. The A ranker took on look about the whole situation between the two parties. As this ranker looked back and forth, they noticed her on Ravens shoulder.
He was then deeply frowning... turns cold pale and backed off. She turned her head seeing the stranger, they staggered and backed into the counter. Soon kneeling and saying prayer. She ignores them, back to petting the kitten and looking at the duel setting rules.
Listening to the guild man give them the same high rank job. Whoever completes it first, without dying and has proof of the job done. They will win party label ranking up premonition and individuals will be retested ranking. The guild master turned around to the guy on the floor, scratched his head confused.
"Yeah, that's a normal reaction." Raven wafted his left hand, "She is scary in unnecessary ways." Stepping next to the guild master, "Could my group join or be given a test task like that?" The guild master looking at Raven a while and slides at the moving doll petting the kitten. Back to the lad.
"What is your collective ranking of your party?"
"B. Although, there is four or five us with A rank. She isnt included."
"And why is she not."
"I am already a veiled ranker. I more a monster classification then hunter." She replies for herself and the guild leader goes to say something. Then closed his lips. The Hunter behind him passed out.
"You didnt do that, right?" Raven asked her.
"I didnt touch him or used any sort of sense analysis on him. He just seems to know of my prestige and passed out in shock. This is a typical reaction for those aware of the lord titles." She softly leans looking down at the knocked cold man, "Unclaimed Proxy. A owner-less lamb." She back to sitting leaning on Raven, "I don't need a human proxy. It be harmed by my pets." She softly petting the kitten, "You want a cultist for your faith? He would be good worshipper materials. He has a good soul."
"Worshipping?" Raven is confused. The guild master eyes widen and narrow as the quite match between the lad and the cursed woman happens. Measures if it is worth sending a very level head rookie to something he can potentially do. There arent many folks in the business for such risky missions.
"Most of your party are members might as well be. They follow your instructions unconditionally with the the blindness of walking into dark rooms with eyes closed." She explains, "You tell them to jump into a pool. They will." She also knows what she selling to the guuld master. Letting man into the way things work out.
"She's not wrong. You have the same authority of power over your party as she does over folks like me." Ragnar came up, lowered to the floor over the hunter on the floor, "He smells good."
"Ragnar! No!" She warns and the Ragnar stares judging the man. He goes to reach and she did a sound. Ragnar turned into a pile of snakes and hissed. He divided and disappeared. She huffed. Bjorn picked his head up and watched the snakes disappeared with a drowsy confused gaze.
"He wasn't a party member but a summoned help." Raven tells the guild master, "She isn't that much different." Bjorn adjusted and back to sleeping. She smiles softly and was petting the baby, enjoying the peace. The vanishing of a mock being with a high level warning dangers. The way it was handled as if nothing serious. It sold the guild master to give them a weak task. It needed doing and it been already turned down but his highest availability.
"I have a job I can't give anyone bellow A, but give your handle of that snakes man. It is proof enough that you alone can complete the task. I dont have many options left on who to ask. I couldn't even let a delicate war between the two parties to accept." He crossed his arms grudgingly, "You gave me another tell, you just made my highest solo hire pass out." He scratched with not loosing more lives.
"Can I hire your doll to do it?" There a look, "I would assume that she is part of the package of your party. Raising your group as the bare minimum to take it." He deeply locked at Raven, "You all have to come back in one peice." He wags finger, "I want meat sold to the butcher as proof enough. Only then I will give the same rewards as the stated." Straighten with looking downwards over the lad and doll. A little flicker in fear of the white snow ball that might not be a cat, "I will personally make sure the rank raise of the party and test ranking hunter individuals that show needing rank change."
The guild master steps back to the counter. Raven gingerly steps over the unconscious man to step up. The papers are showed about the issue.
A request to removes an entire pack of strange pack. These things are mimic victims. They are causing tradesmen and merchants being killed on the way to the city. She looked at the images captures of these mimic victims and leans back with having met them before.
"They make good materials." She nods and took out a silky material made from previous encounters of them, "This wouldn't be hard. Good hunt training for my new baby."
Raven takes the paper sharp, her answer that she can handle it alone would guarantee his party aren't going to be in the way and nods quickly that the task was accepted. He folds the paper away. He evaded the cold guy, leans checking that the hunter was alive. He stood back up and wafted his leave. The guild master watching the youths back, seeing all the more things about that kid that reads as dangerous. The doll ans kitten is one thing. Yet thats what makes this leader of the party his own dangerous. The guild master doesn't over look anything that important.
Raven softly over to some other party tables. As parties can do private exchanges. Sometimes loot as no value for some groups but treasure to another. Raven made it to the group that was the left side of the war. Makes good with map data and a pouch full of poor quality material cores of creatures. He slowly walks other more tables. Then does a mirror same exchanges with the rival party. Getting the same map data and better quality crystal cores in a smaller amount. He noticed that the group he gained the map frist from has a lot more environmental scan data and cautious markers. This isn't presenting on the higher quality core group's map.
"Are they still here?" The guy waking up off the floor.
"Took the job you refused yesterday." The guild master pulled the guy up, "And what exactly had you piss yourself? Is the doll that bad?"
"That is what she allowed you to see of her." The hunter spat grit out of his mouth, "Don't let the mock appearance fool you." Looking around for sight of them being here still. Clearly the hunter found her, and jumps over the counter for cover, "She will devour us all."
The guild master sighed and watched his room. Seeing the many types of people around here and checking for any illegal activities. He however feels deep down that the lad that she is attached with isn't a simple.
"You already have a job for us." Raven was back to some of them that are waiting at a table. He takes a seat, and took out the paper. He began explaining the situation. That he was justifying the opportunity that landed him. The current folks sighed in resignation. She was placed onto the table in the middle to give her lecture about the job from her perspective. They aren't actually listening but it was more entertaining then staring at random hunters. Nearly the entire group doesn't actually hear her voice, just feel the words she told them. Giving the impression of feeling that information into them.
"They are just mollusks. Using Cars and whatever as their shell. They hunt humans as a food source. They use the previous victims last spoken words as attraction of prey." She explained to them, a prompt by her crystal was sent over as an access page for them to read at their own leisure on thier own devices, "They are susceptible to extreme temperature changes and illness. Give one a moldy bit of bait and it will likely die in a month." Someone noticed the information sent over on their slate, leans sharing that they need to look. While She crossed one set of arms while a set are still loving her kitten, "Personally I use myself as bait, rip them from their shells. Bleed them into barrels and release back to the wild. A farm able resource. Any pale ones are particularly choosen for their skin. They make useful elastic. The membrane is very good for book repairs."
"She repairs the books of life and death as a side hobby." Raven reminds or even has to tell some folks this fact for the first time, "Her real full time job is putting souls to good homes, collecting lost tome pages and restoring entire universes from the brink of disaster."
The few here are startled and jolt staring with what massive implications that lays. How more dangerous she is.
"Well I retired from the repairing universe things." She petting her baby with all four hands. She soon flops with laying beside Bjorn. Softly enjoying the warmth and fur. The purring that she felt vibrating her threads deeply. Making her purring back. Bjorn snuggled closer, and then went into deep sleep mode. They all shake between the slate information about the mollusks and her.
"Human killing mollusks." They study of Raven is serious about this task. And slowly they are trying to figure out solutions to capture this goal for themselves.
"Wouldn't salt just work?"
"Does anyone have the money to by that much salt?" Shook heads and it dawns why it was a task was upper ranking to begin with. But even then, that would normal put a task like this into a B rankers task if salt was the solution. A rank task is to gather the Mollusks meat without salt. But this was a task set to be a promotional rankers test for S rank. The stamp on the sides stated it.
"Doesn't explain why this is higher issue then normal. Handling local wildlife isn't that big a deal." Muttering by the magic caster.
"Clearly there is a mother or a pearls maker. There could be interference by some group using these creatures as traps. A massive group doesn't grow overnight." Speculation and debate.
"Well the mollusks could attract a even worse problem. They could even be create a subspecies with harder to handle." Another sitting down with the party, having finished the errands. They are whispered about the new task that Raven signed them up for.
"Once the task is finished, we all are rank assessment and the whole party rank is raised." They clearly want this, "New equipment privileges, age licenses no needed for entry into private clubs and the right to buy own base!"
"You still want to get into the crimson scale?" Joked and sounding a bit close to the real reasons.
"That sounds like someone who knows me." She sits up, "I wonder if the clients are not humans." They all turned at her, "No smile rule, right?"
"Jaden here has been wanting to get himself drunk since he had a taste of whiskey." Arm barg. Some whispering between them. Raven shook disappointment.
"Screw being drunk. You lot are missing out." She got up, Bjron is barely among the living at the moment. She stood no bigger then a coffee mug on the table between them all. Beside the kitten her current size.
"We are not encouraging drugs." Raven snapped.
"I wasn't saying that." She protested, "You don't need synthetic chemistry to create a good time. You just need the right plants in the correct eating amounts." She crossed arms, "besides, you not going to find cactus plants in England." She huffed, "We surrounded in forests, there is plenty of fungi."
Raven glaring at her. The party make notes that there is something out there that could be a future during access.
"Stop encouraging drugs." He repeats.
"Well tough, your going to need them. The mollusks are too active to approach safely." He takes several breaths of seeing her train of thoughts.
"We are not eating samples!" He declares to the party. They pose surrender hands in choosing to not kill themselves with bait.
"Yeah, or I will mark you as dead. Send a raven on your unfortunate death with shroom." She backing up her partner about it. This was the moment that was poorly timed. She is stood posed pointing at them like a strict teacher.
"You would have to soul remove them before you could declare them dead." The A ranker stepping up to the booth this party has taken over.
"She has that part covered." Raven wafted that wasnt important information to share. It would seem the party wasnt informed and are soon jumping to evade her gaze.
"I have morals and respect." She exclaims with crossing arms, "Are you coming with us to make sure we arent about to have a party of newly arrived hunters not end up dead?" She side eye measuring the man.
"Partly." The hunter looked at her, "You are the other part. I want to make exchange. I want information about the crimson scales... not the night bar. You loudly said that you think you know them. Implication that you know about them as a race."
"Are you a demigod ranking death order or grim reaper?" She asked with spying into the guys private information. She already skimmed the public page, "What I really need to know is you understand soul concepts. If you cant get over the basic, then how could I explain the crimson ones."
"I would like to warn you." Raven pulled her away, "You are asking a tome language eater about her favorite meal topic. She will start drooling or becoming less appealing to look at. I would be very careful or consider very luck, if she will just disappears from your existence. Like she never happened."
The party nods of this being a common happening. How she suddenly will become real again in unsuspecting ways. The party are not comfortable about her since she joined them.
"Down payment for what you told me this far." The man puts coins down with his left hand, silvers from the death god domain, "If your information is worth it, I will have something better."
She shurgs. He at least shows her what is at stake of the conversation. Three more pouches of mixed afterlife currencies. Demon minted. Another god realms coin. A pouch of stones. A core of a monster.
"Souls are untouchable materials. But they do follow the laws of material nature. Gas, liquid and solid." She gets this out of the way, "There are many souls of many densities. Some races out there can devour souls, meaning there is elements of souls that can be transferred or changed." She looked smug on this next part, "There is a cookbook made by a soul eater for interesting soul meal references." She was shaken out of this side topic.
"Look I get it. There are souls of many colours and forms. Why are the crimson ones special?" The A ranker is educated enough about soul types.
"They retain their lifespan memory for several goes. You can kill one and it will always know you for the next 20 lives after that. Depending on lifespan of each reincarnated body. The true soul shape is a massive blood scale reptile that can be mistake as a god eater. But they speak, have morals and respect due process." She then pointed at the hunter, "The last life of a crimson is very special. They sacrifice all that collective memories and body. They become the bridge between realms. The most famous ones connected heaven and earth. The earth to hell in several places. They are the connection between magic worlds. So a living realm crimson is something rare and terrifying. They must be very strong to survive the living realm."
The hunter took in with reeling about the depth of this information. Pushing all the payment to her. Staring dazed in shock. Stuck on the seat with a sunken feeling. The party member pats his shoulder.
"You trust her information?" A clueless kid laughed, "She not even a human."
"How does that differ about you?" Raven asked about her. This was just a good time while she was open to talk the topic willingly.
"Oh I went passed that stage. I am my own unique soul category. This happens normally to those that cross the abyss past the edge of time itself." Is about all they heard and yet she follows with, "Crimson souls are just a development staging for broken ones. I have been documenting the sort of things that souls go through in the process of existence. Travellers of many worlds in many methods."
"The local crimson here has a long time yet before I bother." The Ender that is its own being, it has been hung to this party due to needing Raven. It sits itself casually, "Miss Trixie, can you throw me into a god tome?"
She stared at the creep a long time. She clearly treated this being with a completely different work of rules. She doesnt do her gestures. She doesnt promise not to exchange souls things. She very willingly takes task given blindly, by this creep.
"The god system around here isnt the way you assume." She posed worried, there is clearly aspects not making sense.
"I was saying souls follow material law. Well, God souls are among the most dangerous types of soul. Worthy meals for a lot of abyss creatures. Yet some the hardest to get claws on. The typical assumption of gods doesn't make sense." The Ender made a strange grimace lip twitching. He leans back and thinks about that. He then changed tactical approach, pulled the tome entry he was concerned of. She walks across the table and looked at the beautiful fading soul. She barely hovered her hands over the pages, sending senses to trace. She pulled away.
"You could just walk there yourself." She turned away with disbelief, "You must have lost your memories, idiot." It looks at the page for itself confused, "We are but specks of a ocean underneath a tar pit. Letting these fish school at our sides."
"You want to go back to the beach of scars? Are you mad? The corpse eaters has you torn into peices." Raven gathered in knowing what was said.
"Well your talking about the human mirror location." She walks over to the table edge and is thinking about changing her body size, "The place isnt a place. It is not where. No when. Not a how or why. The beyond the time sands. Away from my cottage and the pit remains of the creation ember."
She was about to jump. She was snatched backwards onto the table by Bjorn. Bitting her arms and feet kicking her. She became a toy. She let's this happen, giggling the whole time. Anyone else is horrified by the seen. Well, but Raven. He stares blankly in knowing she isnt harmed. He is also smart to not stick his hands into the event.
"Can you still throw me out?" The ender asked with a whining about it. She sighed like that won her over. She untangled out of the snow puff. She makes the table jump this time.
"Why not?" Her much larger natural shape pulled up from the floor. A massive clay of vague enough human features. No face. Hunched to evade the ceiling. She leans protecting over Raven, her rib cage guarding around his back. She barely needed to reach to skew the being soul out of the body it has.
Once she has the cumulative shape of the soul between claws. She inspected the whole thing, gave a lick and then puts the soul through her torso gap. Her damned body materials collected the corpse that is left behind. Sunk into storage into a coffin. She sits back amused, arm hovered gaurding Raven. Cleaned her hands with a rag. Used hand sanitizer. Only then, did she reach and pick up Raven like a doll. She had a second hand set pick up Bjorn. Bjorn adpated size to be lap kitten for her mass. The massive bone bear was liquid between her enlonged bone clay fingers. She petting both human and Bjorn, purring.
"Dude, that isn't normal." One member that must be new to this the party shouted. Stood with a silver dagger and shivering.
"I figured that it wasn't human anymore." The high ranker sits back relaxed that she isnt hiding her creepy nature, "I am actually glad you are showing your true colour. All that pretending makes it harder to trust. I would rather see a monster that knows its a monster. Respected that there is a fine line between us."
"You are someone else's nightmare or the god to unsuspecting souls." She nods, "We all coexist."
"Crimson souls are just souls that don't let go of their memories?" This ranker was still stuck on this topic, personal or knows someone else close that is. She studies emotional waver.
"Depends on the individual. Some forget the lesser things. Some loose track of worth and meaning. There a sense of pain and helplessness in such a way. You don't forget how you died, you cant erase the most soul shattering truths. You go on while those you loved are sand between fingers. There are realms that do not like having such dense souls on their plain, spending defensive measures to get rid. The living world is a no man zone if you don't have a body to occupy."
She tilts inclination of her reading the body language happening. She eased her own body language, making effort to appear relaxing too. Putting Raven back on the booth seat, leaning across his shoulder with acting this calm. There still a set of hands loving the massive bone armored bear in her lap.
"We got rid of the guy that talks non-stop about regert and life goals. We replace it with a strange creepy woman that hangs over Raven like a clothing accessory." The party getting over small grievances to welcome new ones.
"And makes him act human." Another follows, "While making the world arounds afraid to breath the same air."
They all looked at each other, there it was again. Making bets. Rations exchanges among themselves. She huffed. Focus back forwards with the table exchange of the A ranker and her Raven. The payment for the information has been fulfilled properly. She slipped over a receipt of the transaction, left hands.
"So what is the plan?" Having ignored the restless uncomfortable situation and to be back to mission topic.
"We are going to the forest to pick up mushrooms. We sell them to her. She going to use the mushrooms to hunt the Mollusks population. We are tagging along to butcher the corpse remains. She going to spilt the mission shares with us. She gets the monetary value, we get the rank promotion." There a few eyes sliding about the massive bone bear that flops itself to purr in a new posture, "She said that this bone bear will get hunting experience or something taming skill like that."
"His a baby soul, only a flicker old. He going to learn to be a strong monster." She babies the massive bone Grey meat mass with tickled knuckles and gentle 'raspberries' on the 'tummy'. Everyone turned away to look at the information they had for now.
"Can we stay in a tavern nearby to recover before we collect the mushrooms?" She pets Raven head.
"You can meet me here when you are ready for the mollusks. I will find you of plans change. I will know if something happens." She sees them take up their bags, exhaustion clear. She collected Bjorn in a bundle, stood too.
"And what you doing while they are recovering, since your not staying with?" The Ranker asked.
"I am a merchant. I am also a hunteress. There are things only my hands can do." The ranker stares a little scared.
"If I cross a bunch of empty soulless living poeple, I will gut you." Raven declared.
"Oi, I am not the only being that can remove souls around this city. Do not mistake some crazy people for me." She pouted.
"Do not make it you." He wags and they exit. She stays only for a few seconds and soon turned. She moved to the hiring corner. Set up a leaning stool and small table of her own. The massive bone monster lays playing dead at her feed. She stays in this active creep mode, as it seems this was the preferred version of her they needed.
A mock clothus in tight undertaker modernize hunters gear. Faceless and hovering at her table gig. Partly seated. 'Feet' buried underneath the mass of creepy bear rug.