Rise of the Devourer

Book 2: Chapter 28 — Cultist Meetup

You’ve bonded with [Draconian Jackalope].

[Draconian Jackalope] has inflicted [Madness] on you.

[Devourer] resists [Madness].

Noah read through the notifications, raising an eyebrow. “Well, isn’t that fun.” Noah said, looking down at the bunny making innocent beady eyes towards him. After a moment’s consideration, he put Bun Bun into his Dimensional Pocket. The rabbit conveyed its displeasure, but did not resist as Noah sent it in.

“How do people keep familiars normally?” Noah asked.

“Some are summoned from the Astral planes, while others stay in a smaller form and travel with their owners. If the familiar for some reason can’t take a small form, there are some devices with pocket dimensions inside them that can keep the summon inside. Your Dimensional Pocket likely works very similarly. Familiars tend to typically just sleep inside them till they’re needed. Only a very rare few stay manifested all the time like Tony.”

“Interesting,” Noah said, feeling Bun Bun having settled inside the darkness and gone into a sleep-like state as well. He suspected time didn’t exactly flow normally inside, especially if he was not present. He still wasn’t sure how exactly his Dimensional Pocket worked, or how he didn’t suffocate inside with no air, but those were random musings for some other time.

“How’s the cultist search going?” Noah asked.

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“Actually, we found the cult. Erwest is out right now making contact. We think tonight is when we should move. The only hold up we had was that you’d suddenly vanished,” Aurelia said.

“My bad. Guess it’s time for us to start the mission then? What’s the plan looking like?” Noah asked.

“Bring out Hayver, go at the meet up point, then try to find out as much as we can and hopefully not get caught,” Aurelia replied, stretching her limbs.

“Sounds like my kind of plan,” Noah said grinning.

“Yup. Making it complicated has no purpose, we’ll figure it out while we are there. None of us are trained for espionage, and we shouldn’t appear to be trained either. Just three adventurers who are trying to escape being caught now that they fucked up.”

Aurelia completed her stretches, embers and ash dancing around her body, before she returned to her training.

Digging into his Dimensional Pocket, Noah picked out his new cloak, putting it on his body. “Guess I should do some training as well.”

A moment later, he sent a pulse into the item, as his body turned ethereal, turning into a shadow.

***

Erwest sat in a tavern, watching the people of the city pass him by. The denizens of the tavern were primarily adventurers, who did not care that it was the middle of the day as they gulped down alcohol after having completed all sorts of quests. No one gave him a second glance here, with his armor and sword, he fit in perfectly in the establishment, aside from the fact that he was by himself.

There was an annoying human quality to this city, the filth, the poverty, it was all a reminder of his own childhood, one he cared not to remember too often if he could.

“Ay, big man. Your mug’s empty,” the waitress said, swiftly moving in with two large pitchers and a tray balanced on her hands, as she swiftly moved in to pick up the mug to fill it with alcohol. Erwest held up a hand, stopping the girl. “I don’t drink.”

She gave him a look, surprised, before shrugging as she moved on to serve the other tables.

Erwest reprimanded himself for letting that slip. He wasn’t a paladin right now, but years of habit were still difficult to just shrug off. Still, that was no excuse for being sloppy. Time continued to pass, and slowly Erwest began to become more and more suspicious if he had been given the right place or not.

Hours passed by as he waited, the suns now slowly making their way across the horizon to let in night to take over the sky. Erwest stood up, ready to leave when a hand touched his shoulder. He turned to look at the waitress from before, “Take a seat big man.”

Erwest look at the girl in confusion as she pointed at the chair. “You wanted to see me didn’t you?”

He stared at her for a moment, still unsure. He squinted at the girl, using Identify.

[Waitress - ?]

“You shouldn’t believe what your eyes see so easily,” the girl said, sitting herself down onto the chair. The loud chaos of the tavern began to be drowned out by Erwest’s heartbeat, as he took a seat in front of the girl.

“Who are you?” he asked, leaning in.

“I could ask the same for you, can’t I?” the girl said, leaning back in her chair. Erwest noticed the girl’s eyes, now slit pupils instead of anything resembling a human. “A paladin of Hellion, a fire berserker from Nyxis and an outerworlder with ties to the void. Not exactly the kind of people who go looking for the cult exactly.”

Erwest stood up, hand on his blade, but the girl was fast, her hand wrapped around his with an iron grip. “Not here, unless you want to blow your cover to the whole city.”

He looked at the girl, feeling her strange aura lurking over him. She was powerful, enough to match him should it come to blows.

Slowly, Erwest let go of the hilt of his blade, and the girl stepped back. “Tell Noah to bring you two to the Pit. We’ll talk there.”

Then, as if the visage of the woman had been a lie, the girl’s eyes slipped back to normal, as she turned around and returned to her job.

Erwest stood in silence, chewing on what had just happened here. There was something going on here, more than any of them had understood previously, and he didn’t like how much he did not know.

With a silent huff, he turned around, and made his way back to the Lord’s castle. There was a lot to discuss.