1 Chapter 1: Another Hunt

A clear night holds the glowing moon high in the sky. The moon rays penetrate the thick forest treetops as the silhouette of a snake like humanoid slithers its way over and under dense branches of fallen debris with haste like it was trying to escape inevitable death. The faint noise of footsteps squishing against the moist forest floor in what seems to be in pursuit of the creature.

The creature breaks through the treeline finding itself in a wide range of tall grass with the light reflecting off its slick dark blue skin. It darts it's cobra-like head back and forth looking for the source of the footsteps as they get louder. The Slitherite turns to where it ran from while unsheathing a rusted but functional scimitar as the moonlight dances across it. Its eyes moving from side to side while hearing the footsteps get even louder but then abruptly stop. The creature cocks its head, confused, and looks around.

Suddenly a shadow covers the body of the creature, it looks up seeing a human silhouette 20 feet off the ground leaping from the treeline and burying its knee into the midsection of the Slitherite. The human lands on top of it. A loud gasp of air leaves the snake creature as they land on top of it. "Consider yourself lucky, I was aiming for your head," says the mysterious man as the shadows still covering most of his features. "You do not know who you are dealing with! I will destroy you," yells the Slitherite as it tries to catch its breath.

"Ooo I've never heard that before, especially from a lovely creature as yourself" the human claims and smiles. The Slitherite quickly wraps its tail around his neck and throws him off of it but he elegantly lands on his feet. "A sly Slitherite too? This is a treat! I like your enthusiasm and for that I'll let you choose. A quick and painless death or a long and slow death?" says the human. The pissed fiend stands up and gets a good look at a tan skinned human in tight dark robes with white bands wrapped around the hands and feet. The faint symbol of an obsidian jackal head surrounded by golden symbols that read "Hounds of Xandra" placed on the right pec of the human's robe. Short, spiked black hair move with the subtle wind as he stands there, arms crossed with a smug look.

The Slitherite lunges forward swinging left and right at him but with no luck landing a hit. The human yells out, "Now Zonu!". The creature's eyes widen as it stops and turns around only to see another human step out from the brushes on the opposite side of the open range spinning his hands slowly around each other with the subtle sound of lightning crackling. The other human standing a little taller than Kaizen, dressed in a navy blue trench coat with brown curly hair extends his hands towards the Slitherite.

"Azra's lux penetrabilior!" Three beams of lightning shoot out from his hands, streaking across the plains and lighting up the dark atmosphere. Two of the bolts strike the Slitherite in the head and midsection as the third one whizzes pass Kaizen's face. The Slitherite falls to the ground, a dark crater in its head and chest as it lays there smoldering. "Holy shit Zonu, I thought you were going for the Earth crushing spell, you know... the one that is least likely for collateral damage?!" the black robed human yells across the way. "It's fine, it missed you didn't it? When you gave the signal I thought you would be smart enough to get out of the way". Zonu replies while holding back laughter.

The two meet up in the middle of the area with Kaizen dragging the Slitherite body. "You get the first pick Zonu since you were the one with the killing blow". Kaizen grunts while throwing the body between them. Zonu takes a moment to look through the pockets.

"Hmmm... some silver, little bit of dried food, and a green gem amulet." Zonu pockets the green amulet and smiles at Kaizen extending the dried meat towards him. Kaizen shakes his head in disappointment but accepts it anyway. "Go ahead and start the circle Zonu, I'll keep a lookout for any more hostiles." Zonu agrees and sits down on the grass and pulls out a decent size book with the same jackal emblem on the front.

"Ash, could you give me a little light? " Zonu opens his trench coat and a tiny pseudo dragon pokes its head out looking for anymore danger before coming out. She presses her head against her master's hand and breathes out a small flame for Zonu to see the spell book. "Give me 10 minutes and it'll be done." Zonu quickly starts drawing the intricate circle with white chalk that leave a faint trace over the grass. Focusing and running his hands through the air as he draws the symbols, they begin to glow brighter as he gets closer to completion. He draws in the last symbol and the circle gives off a low hum as it glows bright. "Now," Zonu says as he collects his book and Kaizen grabs the Slitherite's corpse and step into the circle.

As they step in, it feels as if they are being stretched across the world and suddenly they find themselves in a warm, low-lit interior chamber. Zonu drops to his knees coughing up a bit of blood on the stone floor. Kaizen rushes over and helps him up. "You would think you get used to those higher level spells." Zonu glares at him, "you try teleporting great distances without your shit feeling all jumbled up". An older gentleman with short gray hair dressed in blue robes who doesn't look up from his book.

"Was it an emergency or another shortcut to deliver your bounty?" The older man says with a curious look on his face. "Sorry Master Cayde, it was a little bit of both."Zonu sighs. Cayde pulls himself up from the chair with the help of a cane and walks over to them. "After you deliver your bounty, clean up the mess and fetch my spell book. I'm going to a meeting up north in the morning." Cayde says as he pats Zonu on the shoulder. Zonu's eyes widen. "Could I go this time?" Cayde replies, "Zonu, we've been through this, you have to be a member of the committee to go. Carwearin and I will be leaving for a few days and going to rendezvous with Dormir. If I need you I will send you a message. Understand?" Zonu sighs. "Yes sir, I'll clean this up when I get back but you should get some sleep master, you got quite the journey ahead of you." Cayde nods his head and stumbles up the stairs to his room.

As Cayde heads to his chambers, Kaizen turns to Zonu who is currently looking at the charred Slitherite body. "What is it?" Kaizen asks. "Slitherites usually show some indication of experimentation around the forearms or chest. This body looks untouched by any kind of lab work. Similar thing with the sirven we hunted the other day. They usually have a bite mark or claw marks from being turned into one, yet no marks." Zonu explains. "Maybe we got ahold of some pure blood creatures then? Either way, that has to be worth more! Let's go ahead and take it over to Birysol's to see about a new price." Kaizen shouts as he carries the body up the stone stairs.

Zonu follows in pursuit and both make their way down the street. The night is quiet, only a handful of people still about, getting ready for the upcoming day and exchanging curious glances towards Kaizen and Zonu as they reach Birysol's store: Sharp Edges.

The doorbell chime rings as the two hunters enter a well lit room with shelves full of different antiques: books, instruments, and weapons. Behind the front desk, there are many pieces of different fabrics with stuffed creatures mounted on the wall. A heavy set, older, pale half elf sits in a chair combing his receding blonde hair back while he focuses on sharpening a skinning knife. "Welcome back my favorite suppliers!" Running a little late aren't we? " Birysol says as he looks up at them. The robust sound of his voice echoes in the quiet room. "I actually think we are just in time! Plus you'll be satisfied to know the body is in one piece this time." Kaizen says as he drops the body onto the floor on the side of front desk. Birysol kneels down to examine the body then chuckles to himself. "What a mighty fine job you boys done for me today, let me grab your coin." He steps around the door frame and the sound of boxes moving and shaking of coins.

He comes back out and hands a satchel to Kaizen. "Before we accept this, this creature seems to be a rarity. No signs of any experimentation on it, that leads me to believe that this is a pure blood. I think that should bump up the price some." Zonu explains. Birysol's eyes narrow and examines the body more thoroughly around the arms and neck yet no sign.

"Hmm I will give an extra 10 gold to bring you to a total of 35 gold. How does that sound?" Zonu looks at Kaizen about to shake his head in denial when Kaizen grabs Birysol's hand. "That sounds like a deal to me!" Kaizen says while smiling and shaking his hand. Zonu slaps his forehead in disbelief. "That is why you're my favorite hound, Kaizen." Birysol says hysterically. "Before you boys leave, could you drop this off to your friends at the church in Razelbends? I know you like to visit them often and it would help me out tremendously!" Birysol hands them two medallions with the shape of a crescent moon overlapping the sun on it.

"I think it is about time we see them, it's been a few months. I'm sure they are almost done with training." Zonu turns and says to Kaizen as he takes the medallions. Kaizen nods in agreement. "We will be back in a week or so, keep some jobs on the side for us?" Kaizen asks. Birysol holds up a stack of papers. "Already ahead of you, take a few anyway just in case you see some on the way."

Kaizen and Zonu takes the few papers and say their goodbyes to Birysol as they leave the warm interior store out into the chilling night air.