Bait Trap

The Three of us made our way through the forest for the next few hours until it started to get dark. We had been heading back in the direction of the river and towards where we last saw Lariss and Thelora. But as the day turned to night, I started to feel a pull in my bones in a different direction.

When morning came the pull only increased.

"I think we need to head in a different direction." I said.

"What about your friends?" Vesta asked.

"They're fine for now, but I think…" I wasn't fully sure how to explain this feeling without going into my blessings. It was a similar feeling to when the stag helped us escape the other day.

"Alright, if you think they're safe, we can follow where even you lead." Adalgard said. Vesta gave her a puzzled look.

"Thank you." I was grateful for the faith Adalgard was showing me. It most likely came from her belief in the Court of Masks and the various blessings I have shown from them. As for the other two, I hoped that if anything bad had happened to them, I'd be able to feel it through our spiritual marks.

"Fine, the three of us should be able to handle anything." Vesta said.

That day we headed away from the river and towards my unknown feeling. We encountered a few monsters along the way but were able to handle them. Some with more difficulty than others. Anyone without B ranked talent would definitely struggle through the forest in its current state.

It was part way through the next day that we came across something unusual. There was a pile of fruits that had a silver sheen to them. I recalled them being special and having eaten a few during special occasions at my father's castle. They tasted amazing and temporarily boosted one's spirit.

"How did someone end up with so much forsil fruit that they could just leave it all in one pile?" Vesta asked.

"Do you know what this is for?" I replied.

"It's used for bait during the Hunt. The descendants of the Gylltaine Stag will be attracted to it. You then follow them since they stay near their ancestor." Adalgard pulled out a silver looking pear. "I intended to tell you about it once we were further in during the Hunt. But plans changed."

"So it's a tracking method. How many people know about this?" I said.

"It's fairly common knowledge among the guilds but the issue here is the amount of fruit. I was lucky enough to find this piece while on a quest not too long ago, but usually they cost nearly 100 gold based on their purity. This pile alone is worth over 1,500 gold. That's a lot for any guild. Especially since it isn't guaranteed to work." Adalgard said.

"That's not the only strange part of it." Vesta waved her hand and mumbled a few arcane words and around the fruit a number of glyph formations started to glow. "The area is also trapped. Catching a member of the descendants herd doesn't increase your odds of finding the stag. The common method that we've been using is to follow after them. So why trap it?"

"It also doesn't look like anyone is keeping a direct eye on it, otherwise we'd already have company." I thought for a bit before coming up with a plan.

After we hid ourselves close by, Vesta sent out a spell that activated the traps. It wasn't long before a group of a dozen people showed up. While I wasn't familiar with every adventurer, it was strange that I didn't recognize any of them, since the only ones that should be Hunting in the forest were the top finishers from each rank.

"What the Hells? Did it escape?" One of them said. Vesta had left a spell in the area that allowed us to hear them.

"That's impossible. These traps were designed and set up by Sostrate. They haven't failed yet." Another said.

"Well then how do you explain what happened here?" The first one that spoke replied.

"We're just going to have to report the failure and see if she'll come set up the trap again." Another said.

"Screw that. There's no way she won't blame us and I don't want to deal with that. They should have enough from the other bait traps to attract that demon. Let's just lay low until this is all over." One said.

"I don't know, shouldn't we be diligent in our work for the Light?" Some else said.

There was a moment of silence before most of them started laughing and the one who spoke started to turn red from embarrassment.

"You can be diligent in your Light and deal with her anger. The rest of us are just here for the coin. And since we get paid either way, let's just get back to the shelter. I don't want to be out and about with all these mutations running around." The first said.

They started making their way back towards where they came from but one of them stayed behind.

"Hey what's the hold up?" Someone called to the straggler.

"I think someone was here." The straggler knelt down and started examining the area. "There are tracks leading in that direction."

"Who cares if some adventurers wandered by. They stay away from each other during the Hunt anyways." The first said.

"We don't get fully paid if the ritual is disrupted. I don't want to take the chance that whoever this was will interfere." The straggler said. He got up and started to follow our tracks to our hiding spot. A few of the others started to follow him while the rest reluctantly stayed in the area around the fruit.

I used my psychic motes to convey a simple plan to the other two.

As the group came closer to our hiding place they were kind enough to remain in a group. On my cue Vesta released a massive fireball. Their screams filled the air as their flesh was consumed. The straggler that was tracking us seemed to be stronger than the rest but was wounded enough to fall easily to my sword.

I continued forward to the group that remained by the fruit a few hundred yards away while Adalgard took care of those that survived the fireball. Spells from Vesta flew over my shoulder taking out a few ahead of me.

Even with my Speed spell at full, they had enough time to form up in a defensive position. As I clashed with those in the front, I saw the one that had been giving orders earlier had a Communication Stone in his hand.

"Help we need back up!" He yelled into the stone. The stone seemed to be set to relay the reply to his mind as I didn't hear anything.

"No that's not it, we're.. AHHH!" His response was cut short as I broke through his people and used my Moonlight Lightning Slash to slice off the hand that held the Communication Stone.

Spectral Chains began attacking those around us as Adalgard caught up to me. It didn't take us long before the only one left was their supposed leader who was trying to back away while clutching the bleeding stump on his arm.

"Stop! My backup is on their way. If you don't want to die just let me live." He stammered.

Two things stuck out at me. Other than the straggler, none of them seemed to be skilled in any way. The other was how easily it was to break this guy. At this point I figured they were mercenaries but they couldn't be very good ones.

"Just tell us what you've been doing here and we'll let you go on your way." I said.

"They'll kill me if I talk." He said.

"And we'll kill you if you don't talk." I replied.

"Yeah but they can do things. Things that will affect my soul." He said.

"If it's your soul you're worried about, I can assure you that a member of the Court of Masks is much worse than a Follower of the Light in that regard." I made a simple gesture towards Adalgard who had her Spectral Chains floating around her.

"The Court…" He mumbled.

"Just tell us what we want to know and we'll send you on your way." I said.

"Our job was just to watch the traps. If a special deer was caught, we would restrain it and take it back to the shelter to keep any mutated monsters from getting it before a group of knights would come to collect it. We've done it twice already." He said.

"How many bait traps are there?" I asked.

"I don't know but we were in charge of watching four in this area and I think there were two to three other groups watching other areas." He said.

"How many knights are there?" I asked.

"I don't know. Maybe 20. I didn't see everything when we were at the ritual site." He said.

"One last question. What can you tell me about the ritual they are performing?" I asked.

"I don't really know. I didn't even know it was a ritual. One of the other fellows is… was a believer and he recognized some of the stuff they had set up and painted on the trees. He thought it was to trap a demon." He said.

"Anything else?" I asked the other two.

"Which way is the ritual site?" Vesta asked.

"Uhh, that way." He pointed in the direction that I was being drawn to.

"Thanks." I made his death as quick and as painless as possible.

"That was a little more cold than I would have thought you capable of." Vesta said.

"I'm not fully comfortable with it myself but it looks like this is a trap for the Gylltaine Stag. With the stacks so high we can't afford any loose ends and they chose their path. Now." I looked around at the dead bodies. "How quickly can we make this look like a monster attack?"

*****

Between writer's block and a few unexpected life events I've haven't been writing. My hope is that I can get to three chapters a week through this busy time of year and up to five in the beginning of the new year. Thanks to anyone that has stuck around.