Godless and Faithless 2: Ch 8

Unfortunately for Rayner, this world didn’t have umbrellas.

The sheer volume of rain the sky dumped on him and his current companions obscured his vision and forced him to trek up a hill to see where he was going.

Rayner found a job thanks to the recommendation of the whitesmith he assisted at the caravan. The job was to protect a monster cataloger named Kata. He researched the twisted monsters that still inhabited the area which the miasma had originally affected.

Three others were hired on for the job. A team of two young men that looked like brothers along with a woman with many swords strapped to her back.

The woman, Krisa, said, “It would help if we knew what we are looking for.” She raised her voice to be heard over the downpour.

The monster cataloger lay supine with his ear to the ground listening for something. The man did many strange things like that during their short time together and Rayner was beginning to wonder if he were mad.

Clothes muddy, Kata got back up and looked to Krisa. “I’m looking for nothing in particular. I’m a researcher, not an explorer. If I happen to find something interesting, then I will look into it. If not, then I will write that there is nothing here of note.”

Krisa grimaced.

It wasn’t as if she cared about Kata’s work but they had been contracted to protect the man until he completed his work. Without a firm idea of what that was, it left them all stuck out in the rain until Kata decided he had no more use of them.

Kata hadn’t tricked them but he did use their desperation for work to his advantage.

Jose, one of the men claiming not to be brothers, pointed to something off in the distance. “I see a large snake over there. Should we check it out?”

Did Jose make things up in order to hurry the mission along? Either way, it was better than staying on the hill.

As they approached the snake, Rayner suddenly knew what they would find. With that realization, Rayner knew where they were.

That hill they stood on moments ago was the hill the dragon he and Axel had fought wrapped itself around.

It didn’t take long for him to confirm this.

While difficult to see in the rain, Rayner was close enough to see its scaly serpentine body.

Kata jumped with glee and rushed closer to the dead dragon. His hand ran along its length and his face peered so close to it that his nose touched the monster’s skin. “A worshiper must have dug their blade into its side and cut along its length. It would have taken great deal of force to pierce its skin.” He turned back to them and noted, “Unlike popular belief, dragon scales are not particularly hard but their skin is thick and tightly packed in layers. The scales act as films for each packed portion of skin.”

Well, that explained a lot. Rayner wondered if Kata had a book to sell. He would love to read it.

Krista called out from the head of the dragon. The party moved to the dragon’s head.

Krista pointed at its bashed-in face. “More than one worshiper did this. Its face was bashed then sliced with a small blade or dagger.”

“Why does any of this matter? Is this what you were looking for, Kata?” Rayner said.

“As I said, anything interesting. This counts. How one, or two, worshipers slew a dragon is of great interest to me. While not incredibly powerful monsters, they are hard to kill due to their thick skin and few worshipers want to fight them.”

The other non-brother, Cory, said, “They steal EXP. It’s not worth it to fight them.”

Jose added, “Agreed. Can’t pay me enough to do that. I worked hard for the EXP I have.”

“Fine. Any chance one of you has a blessing or a skill to shield us from the rain?” Rayner said.

They all shook their heads. Damn. “Well, we are going to get ill if we stay in this rain. Let’s go to that tree line and make camp and hope the rain doesn’t collapse the tent!” Rayner yelled over the rain as the downpour increased.

They had to drag Kata away from the dragon corpse. Once reaching the treeline they used the branches to set up a large tent to protect them from the rain.

Inside of the tent, the force of the rain was such that it sounded like rocks were being thrown atop it.

A small lamp was placed at the center of the tent and its glow was such that it lit all corners of the tent and bathed the entire party in warmth.

“Damn that’s cozy,” said Jose. “I need to get one of these.”

“Too bad. It’s mine. I got a dozen curses spending my coin on that lamp and now it’s paying off,” said Krisa.

“Well, I’m glad you did.”

“Me too. So, after the rain lets up. What do we do next?”

Kata brooded in a corner because he’d been dragged away like a curious child from the dragon. He perked up when she mentioned their future plans. “The dragon is not native to this country. It’s far too unique for this little land. It would massively disrupt the local monster ecosystem.”

“Sounds like a reason to move in to me,” said Cory. It was easier for Rayner to think of them as brothers, no matter their protestations.

Growing eager, Kata joined them, sharing the lamp’s warmth. “Well, for one thing, monsters worship gods, too. And those gods would actively seek to push out a monster that didn’t belong. Also, monsters don’t like foreign monsters jutting into their local conflicts and would work together to attack them.”

“I’ve heard of this. Monsters do fight each other more than we humans fight them; the tribal monsters sometimes work together to drive out outsiders. I don’t think the goblins, kobolds, and other minor monsters of Alta could do that to a dragon though. It also doesn’t explain why one would be here,” Cory said.

“I was getting to that. What you said is right, monsters of different species or clan will gang up on outsiders.