@Erien for again, pushing me to complete this, its been a third written for about a month and a half.
[X] Tell her about both, though, you probably don't have the time to do both and help Mage with the Iron Forest before Duty and the Ecologists show up.
You still aren't quite sure where you stand on what you do for her officially. On a personal level though, while you seem to be getting to know her very quickly, you'd rather not do her thinking for her at the moment. Being picked for your… viewpoint aside. This might be one of those things where she either has a two birds thing going on, or she might get offended on some sort of prioritization being done for her.
"The hunters have actual requests of their own. I'm pretty sure they aren't taking you seriously and are just talking about their problems." You start.
Diana stands up a little straighter, as if attempting to loom over the skeptics, but she cant exactly pull it off when she's about a good twenty-five to thirty centimeters shorter than everyone here. Still, maybe you are looking too far into it, you are still learning some of her mannerisms. "In essence is there much difference? If they have their grievances, and list them, does it matter if they do so in jest or good faith?" She says. Her tone is back to that wise elder persona she kept up when you first met her, but even if you think she's doing a bit, she's not exactly wrong.
"I guess not. They have two big things they are bringing up in particular. One being part of their crew being badly injured and needing either a good doctor, or a healing artifact." You explain.
Diana glances at you, and then you watch her gaze lose focus and drift as she frowns slightly. "I could possibly repeat my manipulation from those caves. While I would enjoy spitting in the face of the god of this place, doing so brazenly while possibly leaving us vulnerable… well, I've already brought some of its likely tools here. It would be risky." She states, though from the popping of her knuckles and the tension in her shoulders you think the caution is grating on her.
A brief grimace flashes past your own features as well, though it's well and gone before you see her gaze regain focus on you. Bringing up the caves, she said something about procuring what was sought then. Bringing out that Kolobok could solve this issue, but that also has the concern of possibly pissing off the hunters that you were sitting on a potential solution there. Maybe warranted, but also you aren't sure what the fuck they expect, there are limits to how casually you can just drop off key assistance and reveal the value you are sitting on. This isn't that kind of community where that shit is safe.
Also, it might not really get them to take her seriously, and the nagging thought that keeps cropping up now is this is as much about that as it is actually helping them. Maybe you are projecting values here, but the impression you get when you think of someone who would self identify as an apostle of the hunt is someone who probably wants to be revered or respected as such. Sure, the Kolobok came from the same damn place but the hunters don't know that. They'll just think you were waiting for an excuse to pull the rare artifact out as a preplanned bit exploiting their injured friend.
They are already argumentative and suspicious after all…
Perhaps you are looking at the wrong side of this. It's a problem for the whole of Skadovsk that there isn't a doctor right now. A problem you created by shooting the prior one in the face. Regardless of if he deserved it and he was kind of a fucking problem all his own, he was the only competent doctor.
… but maybe that's too narrow. Charcoal may have pissed you off, but the man was at least passably competent. Duty as much as it may dislike the government and especially its military members has a certain amount of doctrine and structure that means it has to have surgeons of its own. Freedom might get away with hoarding away a relative smaller number, but Duty's own setup means it has to have enough that you might be able to negotiate something there.
You don't like how dependent that will get you with them, but perhaps you can get somethin-
"Oof!" You cough and start wheezing suddenly, eyes suddenly staring at the floor your torso is now in line with. You are on your feet still, barely as you stumble back a step, and glare up at Diana who has not moved her elbow from where she struck you with it.
"I have need of your words, not your stares at this time." She says, voice almost something you'd allow yourself to call stern. "Nice as it may be." Her mumbled follow up definitely keeps you from managing to take it fully seriously.
That shit still hurt thoug-
You aren't wearing your old modified sunrise, you have a proper armored military quality suit. How goddamn hard does she hit?! Sure you've seen her tear off a bloodsuckers arm and beat it with it, and she has carried you, but….
You suppose this shouldn't be surprising. Then you see her starting to move and before she can make some sort of clever follow up on your stunned state you interrupt her. "Give me a second, I need air to make words." You explain, before very carefully making sure you are speaking Russian. "Dammit woman."
Alright, actionable knowledge. Something she needs to know. She's trying to make a decision here. "Well, you are wanting them to take you seriously, and know it's you helping them. Directly getting them something. So… you can directly lead them to the traitor easy enough right? That in your bag of tricks?"
"Trivial." She replies… and does not explain.
You stand back up and reclaim a bit of your dignity before rolling your hand through the air hoping she'll go on. Apparently, the concept of a rotating wheel associated with a hand gesture is not universal considering she fails to continue. "Shoooould we ask them for an item of his? Do you need to pick up a scent or the like."
The massive skull sways back and forth. "No, it simply being their target is enough. It would be less tiresome if they were nearby to concentrate on that however. A hunt is a hunt, and within my purview, but this is
their hunt, to simply drop a head in a bag at their feet…" She trails off, and from her tone she's clearly hunting for a way to describe her problem with it.
"Too dismissive? Impersonal? Trivializing?" You offer.
This gets you a nod. "Close enough yes. It is better if I am to make it clear my status is more… personal. I am the Apostle of the Hunt… but the best known hunters work in groups."
You can agree that she might have a point the- wait, no you cant. "So, you have better hunters than griffins and dragons?"
The eye sockets lock in on you again. "Dragons are not my or my God's domain, the… additions to the dire wolves not-withstanding, and even then Hardy is a bit… petulant about that. Griffins absolutely tend to work in family groups, one without kin is prone to disease and madness."
That psygriffin in the Iron Forest seemed to be doing fairly well for itself last you checked… with its hoard of zombies guarding the other one's corpse.
Fuck.
Eager to not think about that problem you instead consider something much more solvable. "So, we give them an answer, we can lead them to their target. We just casually pull that off and they can't really ignore that. Even if it's not mystical bullshit, they can't ignore you giving them what they wanted, on demand."
The Apostle doesn't give any indication she heard you for a moment, before there is a single crisp nod. "That is sufficient." She says, before with a clatter a string of carved beads, fangs, and bits of horn on a cord drop into her hand and she almost seems to be idly fidgeting as she twirls parts between her knobby fingers. "See if you can get two of them to accompany us after the feast. It will be easier if they are around thinking about what they are needing to hunt."
You look back towards the hunters. Gonta is staring impatiently, while the others seem to be backing off. "So, hope you hate sleep. After we eat she apparently want to take two of you fucks to go kill Magpie. She doesn't actually need anything to go find him, but she says it'll be easier on her with a couple of you around."
"Didn't I just say we weren't hopping on another hunt?" Gonta replies casually, gesturing towards the gigantic carcass. Honestly, at this point this conversation is starting to become a problem. People are starting to come up, the prep work is mostly done so soon parts of this thing are going to get cooked enough to eat. Your group has eyes on it, and thanks to all the bizarre bullshit you are an interesting sight of late even without the wild woman next to you. The wild woman that everyone with ears now probably thinks is a valid target for certain advances.
[ ] Take the refusal, and go, you will just have to explain to Diana they are being a pain in the ass.
[ ] Come up with a well ordered and reasonable and polit-
Yeah you don't have the patience for this. "Yeah no, you are interested in that. That's the first non-pissy thing you've said." You retort, grinning a bit. A bad habit, even in your prior work. A borderline salesman smile, not a good way to make friends, but it is a good way to let someone know you're on to their bullshit. Fantastic for when people are claiming they cant pay what they owe, or that they have nothing of value. Or that they don't know what happened to the missing part of produ-
The smile is gone as you dial it back. That slope is drenched in cosmoline, and always will be, best avoid it whenever you can. "Sure, you're still dismissing it, verbally, but that one wasn't really honest. You want Magpie dead, but you really want to see him dead. Knowing it is done might help you out, deal with whatever bullshit is distracting you. I just gave you the opportunity to be involved and that's much more appealing isn't it; and you aren't actually ready to dismiss the unnatural shit either?"
Gonta tightens his glare, but only for a second. He was going to dismiss you, but he didn't actually have a retort lined up, nor is one coming naturally. "If she can't find him in three days, you all fuck off and I dont have to talk to you for a month, got it?"
You are likely about to be gone for longer than that, so that's kind of a nonfactor. The smile is smothered before it can come back again. "Sounds fine, when she finds the asshole in a day though, you better be kissing her ass."
"I don't want my lips anywhere you've been in." The jackass replies instantly, and you shift your stance uncomfortably as you do not look back at the part-gnoll.
"Right, you get the fucking idea." You reply, before from the sizzling carcass next to you, you hear a horrible cracking tearing nose. Pivoting in place, you see Diana has casually broken off the end of one of the chimera's legs, and is heating it closer to the fire. The bone is about as thick as her damn forearm but is cracked just below the joint. Flesh that you know is tough enough to stop most bullets easily torn by what had to have just been a casual gesture.
You look back towards Gonta, whose jaw is hanging up slightly.
"Careful, don't want to catch flies right?" you joke, happily watching the man try and fail to dismiss what he's looking at.
"You are fucking insane for fucking that." The man replies after a moment.
"Yeah… that's definitely the way it happened." You mutter before walking off to get a drink.
…
Your hips still hurt.
—----
The journey gets off to a fairly rough start. First the hunters having some sort of internal dispute they wanted you far the fuck out of as they determined who was going and with what. Diana didn't give a clear timeframe but she seemed to think this wouldn't take long. Regardless, the hunters can be heard arguing about provisions.
You guess that's a good sign, because the timeframe you were given by Gonta wouldn't require this much debate about food. They are buying into this, or at least want to.
However, this does mean that you and Diana basically are twiddling your thumbs, meandering through celebrating stalkers, who also keep passing the woman chunks of less and less edible seeming parts of the chimera and listening to the sounds she makes while eating them. You are pretty sure you saw money exchanging hands when she casually broke open a femur for the marrow.
This does mean that you aren't immediately located at first when one of the hunters goes looking for you, and by the time they find you, drag you away from the festivities and back to the group, some other inane bullshit has cropped up and they dont want you fucking with their decisions so they send you back off.
Eventually though, you start on your way, immediately Diana pulling your group south, and a bit west. Not directly towards the bunker and the gate…
thank fucking god but enough that you have the rough idea of where she could be going. It's been a little bit since you were at that old railway station, but its the only other real settlement this side of the red forest. You dont think Magpie is the type to spend the money running that far. Still, maybe you can see about pressuring Duty to send a surgeon or something.
Thinking about Duty and the heavy armament they are already sending makes your mind wander, and with it, your eyes, a bit to the left of your current path, past the oakpine anomaly and where that old motor pool is…
You ARE about to be getting a little close to Iron Forest, and a journey like this is dangerous. You are copying the porter's route with some minor updates from your own knowledge, but that only helps with anomalies. If something happens along the way, having a bit more firepower might be a good idea…
—
[ ] Pick up Pheela, it'll be good to check in on her, and get her some fresh air away from the mercenaries. Also, her Kord should be an excellent way of ending arguments with hostile wildlife.
[ ] Just continue straight on. No need to delay the hunter's vengeance.
[ ] Write-in
Also, since I forgot to mention it and it didn't flow with how I was writing at the time, the hunters you have with you are Danilla and Gonta.