Alistaire- Sent up four times. 25% Attraction Rate
Dashiel- Sent up six times 20% Attraction Rate
Ellie- Sent up six times 20% Attraction Rate
Vorn- Sent up 11 times 45% Attraction Rate
Fera- Sent up 13 times 45% Attraction Rate
Yve- Sent up 18 times 51% Attraction Rate
Gwenia- Sent up 30 times 55% Attraction Rate
Soren- Sent up 72 times 80% Attraction Rate
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Experiment Log Grand-Seeker Saimon Rumas
Chapter 59: A Stranger comes To Town
Soren
Soren Creed and Atex the hound stared at each other as the barge slowly made its way into dock.
Soren hadn’t noticed the dog when he had first climbed aboard the Knots family barge as the old beast had been hunkered down in a little blanket nest among the family’s supplies.
Since becoming aware of Soren Atex had not made use of the bed again. Instead the old hound had spent the three day trip doing its best to keep itself between Soren and the pair of twins.
The former priest didn’t resent the animal’s behavior, quite the opposite he respected the hound’s innate understanding of its place in the world.
A sacrifice so that its owners could have a greater chance of safety, truly the beast was a noble being. Of course it was wasting its time, if Soren wanted to kill the Knots family there was nothing the animal or the family could do. And besides, the southerner actually liked the little clan of hunters. They were a well equipped and practically minded group and if they held some inane belief in a god that was long dead they kept it to themselves.
“You will be happy to see the back of me won’t you?” Soren quietly said to the dog. His eyes locked to it’s and a second later this animal was shaking in fear.
Stepping closer he placed a hand on the dog’s head and ruffled its ears. The old beast continued to shake but refused to give ground even when it pissed itself in fear.
“Thats a good boy” He went on smiling down at the animal. The words were kind, even the tone was friendly but the hound and the god understood each other on a level humans struggled to reach. It knew that the blonde boy could slaughter its entire family on a whim, and very well might if the mood took him.
On the other side of the barge Leshy Knots was directing his children and wife through the process of preparing to dock. It would likely be a few hours before the Knots clan could tie off their barge and unload their wares, given how many other river vessels crowded around the bay that played host to a series of large straight piers and beyond them a bustling boardwalk.
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Medius Island was the place’s name, it was the de facto capital of the Mucklands and the closest thing to civilization Soren had seen since coming to this miserable godless country.
The enormous river that Soren and the Knots family had traversed to get here had opened up into a lake of even more prodigious size. The Muck landers evidently weren’t overly creative with how they named things, as the dark green lake was called Medius as well.
The polite thing to do would have been to assist the Knots family unload their barge, the same way he had been working the vessel to cover his passage upriver. This close to an actual city again Soren wasn’t feeling overly patient. While he didn’t regret wandering around the swamps and riverlands on foot or boat for the last few weeks, the rustic novelty of his ‘pilgrimage’ had long since worn off.
“Leshy.” He called across the barge, prompting the older man to glance over at Soren. “ I just wanted to thank you for your hospitality.”
The hunter shot him a friendly grin back. “It was well worth it not to put up with old Veltek.”
Soren smiled back but didn’t mention that no one would ever have to put up with Veltek ever again.
The walking god had been playing the nature of his own power close to his chest and while his impatience was causing him to show off more than he really should, he wasn’t about to reveal his wings in front of this many people. Instead he took a que from some of the other boats around, several of them had people flying to shore or back out to their vessels by having their Cards carry them.
Summoning forth his hand with a mental push Soren glanced down at the cards and Manifested his.
“Beacon Of Benevolence”
Soren declined to activate its ability and simply stood as the enormous angelic creature appeared hovering over the water behind him. It’s shining white wings fluttered gently but the effect on the air around it was rather disproportionate, sending blasts of wind in all directions and knocking more than one of the other flying creatures off course.
Soren noticed the Knots family were all staring at him in open mouthed silence, the surprise at his sudden manifestation clear on their faces. Before they could recover themselves and do something pointless like question him the Beacon Of Benevolence reached down and plucked Soren off the deck of the barge and launched high into the air.
Below the now flying ‘Walking God’ the large island spread out in his view. Medius Island was almost entirely covered by its city settlement. Already Soren could feel the tugging within his soul that would lead him to the person he was seeking.
It wasn’t surprising that this was the place that actually held someone with a little bit of power. Unlike everywhere else Soren had been in the Muck Lands Medius didn’t look like the shanty town of some vagrant. There were streets, temples, markets, a spell crafter’s guild and other signs of commerce. People were everywhere, bustling about the streets in the morning sun or making preparations for the impending festival. Still it wasn’t until he noticed a Manifested Fish-man carrying a woman’s shopping for her that Soren truly felt like he had returned to civilization.
Silently commanding the Card presently holding him aloft Soren descended to the street and De-Manifested the Creature. Assuming he didn’t want to commit a series of murders Soren would need money to fund his stay while he figured out exactly who he was hunting, besides after his little pilgrimage it would be nice to enjoy some time in an exotic city before he returned to the south.
Fortunately despite having brought no coin or writs of promise with him Soren was well prepared to generate money easily enough. Walking over to a store he had spotted from above that bore the hourglass symbol of a Dust Trader, the blonde god summoned forth a Card he had recently acquired from his Dealer’s internal storage.
Once inside he intended to Dust the Card and see what the local economy was like.
I know you all love Soren, so I made sure not to keep him out of the story for long......
Patreon is a good place to do that, but you can also just leave a rating so don't feel obligated!