An encounter with a deacon

27th of Shar 358

The past few days have been uneventful. Most of what I have done over the past few days is help the others when they need it and gathering herbs to press into my notebook. We decided today to set up camp early today. Over the past few days, we haven't heard anything on Slaughter, nor have we seen any possible signs of them.

It's not long after that we started setting up camp that I began to smell something. The others must have smelled it too because I could feel the anxiety rise among us. It smelled like iron rusting, of dust. The smell slowly grew stronger, and it started to hurt my nose how strong it got. Hornet climbed a tree to see if they could see the source of the smell. The feeling of anxiety changed to a feeling of being watched.

We started looking around for the source of the smell. There was a figure standing in the road down the way we came, staring at us. It was a bit hard to see them from this distance, but I could make out they were armed with a sword and a shield with the symbol of an eye on it. As they continued their approach, I could make out the belts on their armor, the eye symbol emblazoned across their chest, and their masked face.

They continued to march closer, moving at a steady pace. Their pace made it difficult to discern what their intent was, though we know now that it was negative intent. They marched methodically but quickly; the speed that they marched at was about the speed that I would powerwalk. Fathom threw up illusions, requesting the figure to speak their intent and if they can speak. But the figure kept marching on. They walked straight through our group and continued their march, stamping through the fire we had set up. Embers sparked up from the impact. The smell was really strong now.

Fathom broke the silence, saying to the figure, "You are a bit outside of your jurisdiction, deacon." The figure stopped their march, now positioned with us surrounding us. Fathom speaks again, saying that words would work better than swords right now. However, they didn't respond or rather they seem like they didn't care to respond. They turned around, looking at each of us in turn. First to Hornet, then me, then Hymn, and lastly Fathom. They reached into their pouch and threw iron shavings into the air. They methodically take out a tool from their hip, making a whipping movement with it. The saw blade along it began to spin and send out sparks as it hit the iron shavings. The iron shavings started to form together, almost like it was a figure disintegrating in reverse. An iron flower grew from the ground then turned into a skull. Vines, arms, and legs appeared and a sickle manifested. The golem that the deacon had summoned towered over me; it had a soft red glow emanating from the skull, the flower on its head, and gaps on its arms and legs. The deacon's golem stood there, staring straight at Fathom. The deacon reached to their helmet and as they did, a smokey, black wisp comes from their neck and helmet. Their head began to float in the air, and they draw their sword. The golem gets into a battle-ready position.

When the golem changed stance, I knew that fighting was the only way out of this. I stepped back and tried to aim my bow at the now-floating helmet. I shot my arrow, but it flew past the helmet. The guardian raised its arm and attacked Fathom. As he stepped out of the way of the attack, a bolt of lightning struck the floating helmet. The lightning bounced from the floating head back to the armored body, and then to the golem. Red electricity bounced on the body of the golem. A brief silence followed before thunder boomed, shaking the ground beneath my feet. During that moment of silence, I looked over at Hymn. The constellations and stars that made up their body shifted around, the constellations seeming to almost reorganize themselves and the stars that made up his face changing place. Fathom grew in size, almost doubling in size. He then created a dagger made of ice with their breath and threw it at the deacon. It missed, but as it flew past the floating head, the knife shattered. The armored body stumbled back a little, then a moment later, inky tendrils descended from the tree that Hornet was in. The armored body of the deacon held out its arm, aiming with their weapon at Fathom. It fired two gunshots.

I took a deep breath and focused on my magical energy. As I stood there, focused on the decision of shifting my form into a panther, I felt my body begin to shift and contort. My bones broke and reformed in an instant, my muscles bulging and shrinking, and fur sprouting from every inch of my body. My nails turned into sharp claws, my teeth growing into fangs, and I became more aware of my surroundings. As I opened my eyes, I dashed forward toward the armored body of the deacon, jumping up in the air. I'm not sure why I expected them to move out of the way, as I accounted for them moving out of the way in my attack and it missed. I turned my head and saw the guardian attack Fathom with its sickle. In one unrelenting swing, it made a hole straight through their chest. I'd never seen so much blood before... The golem's unrelenting, strict movements were really scary. Hymn lunged at the deacon with their scythe in hand. They leaned forward, did a wide spin, and cut straight through the torso of the deacon. The upper torso went flying, and the floating helmet dropped to the ground, bouncing a little. They then run over and puts themselves between the golem and Fathom. Hornet appears at Fathom's position, digging through his big pockets and pulling out the healing ointment. They smeared it over the giant hole in Fathom's chest, and the wound started to close.

With the deacon down, that just left the golem. I lunged at the golem from behind, but my claw barely scraped past its metal body. I was worried that my attack would mean it would attack me next, and seeing how it took down Fathom with one swipe, I started to back away. The golem walked over to Fathom's position and stabbed straight down into his chest, standing over him. Hymn tried to swipe at it with their scythe, but their attack missed. Hornet smears more ointment on Fathom's wounds.

I once again lunged at the golem from behind, and this time my claw made contact. However, the wound created by the scratch looked nothing more than cosmetic. Hymn lit up like a beacon and attacked the golem with their scythe, leaving a big gash across the golem's body. Afterwards, Hymn releases a big burst of energy. I was in range of the attack, so I got hit by it as well, but it doesn't hurt much now. The golem attacked Fathom again. This time, however, Fathom started to stand in response, towering over the golem. He pointed the barrel of his gun straight at its forehead, pushing down on it as he stood. He fired a shot, but it slid off of the golem's head like it did nothing. Perhaps the bullets were made of a weaker material then the golem was. Hornet called out, saying that it only wanted to go after Fathom, and they positioned themselves between him and the golem. They suggested we should all get between them. They extruded inky tendrils from beneath their bandages, perhaps to try and grapple the golem.

I ran over to next to Hornet, changing back to my original form. I look over at Fathom and outstretched my hand. A warm, golden light emanated from my hand and washed over his wounds. Not all of his wounds closed, but I mainly put my focus into closing the big ones. After, I turned around and give it an icy stare. Hymn attacked the golem again, cleaving a hole through its chest. They opened a hole to the golem's "heart". It looked like the bud of a flower, and it was glowing red. It started to glow brighter. The golem seemed enraged and it started to go after Hymn, swinging its arms around violently and without direction. It seemed like it was trying to preserve itself. I heard Fathom take a deep breath in and out behind me. Ice formed on their mask, and icicles came out of the holes of the mask, hitting the golem. He then ran up to it and continuously stomped on it until it was down.

As I am writing this, Fathom is back to his normal size. We decided to go back to setting up camp. Fathom and Hornet perused through the remains of the golem and the deacon. Fathom took the "heart" of the golem and the deacon's shield. Fathom set up their tent and went right to sleep, and the others followed not long after. I'm having trouble calming down enough to sleep. I'd been in fights before, but none so dire and with death so close. I'm pretty sure Fathom would've died if he didn't still have that ointment, and that is a scary thought. And to think that I had almost run into mage hunters in the past as well, there is no way I would've gotten out of a fight with one by myself. I am thankful that I had Ymir back then to help get me out of there. I'm not sure why the deacon and the golem were so set on Fathom; there is so much I don't know about the others and they don't know much about me either. Maybe I should open up, seeing as we will be together for a while. I should try to get some rest. Maybe tomorrow, we will find something relating to Slaughter. Good night, journal.

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