faithbound. [marquis & Earinor]

Azrael didn't say any more. Ignatius found a way to keep himself occupied and he himself was busy fixing his clothes. he figured he had time to fix the other layers too and eventually it grew too dark for either of them to continue their work. With the sun almost down there was little light left, so Azrael packed his things away again. He hung his coat up on another branch. He left his boots on, in case he needed to be quick on his feet and he also kept his weapon close and a knife even closer. There was no reason for him to sleep anywhere else, the tarp was fine and different than in a tent, he could easily get up if he needed to. Azrael lay down on his side and pulled a blanket losely over himself. "You should rest too.", he told the priest who shouldn't occupy his thoughts. In theory he could nap on the horse, maybe, in practice he'd probably fall off. Azrael closed his eyes, listening to the woods. He was always weary at sundown.

He could hear the wind and maybe an animal far away, nothing more. He could hear Ignatius too, as he packed his stuff away as well. it had to be nice to have hobbies like drawing, something that definetly wasn't needed out here. Azrael didn't have time for things like that. If he didn't fix his clothes, he cooked, brewed, processed herbs, or cared for his weapons. They needed to be kept sharp and hardened. When he was a child he resolved to sleep during the day as much as he could, and scour through the darkness in search of food, so he wouldn't be surprised by demons in his sleep. He was thinking about it now, because Ignatius kind of stired their conversation in that direction. Thinking about his mother and hils childhood before he fell asleep would only prove to cause bad dreams.

As the sun set he eventually lost his ability to see his canvas - he could make a light if he wanted to and he’d know better than to ask Azrael, yet decided against it as he figured that there was nothing lost if he just slept through it and continued on tomorrow. As Azrael seemed to be done mending his clothes, and done being awake, Ignatius got up and put his things away again - for a moment, he considered cuddling with Njeri, but then came to the conclusion that the valiant steed was warranted some time alone as well and thus, he scampered back to where his belongings were and settled on his knees, praying silently for a bit. It didn’t take long, not much longer than it had taken all the time before either way and as he was done, he simply draped the blanket all the way over his body and lay down in his sleeping bag. Azrael was someone that reminded him to eat, to drink, to rest - he seemed like he wanted everything to go the way he wanted it and not any other way. If that was, what he desired, so be it.

As Ignatius proceeded to settle in a comfortable position for the night, he already wished back the bed from two days ago, which was overpriced and yet, somehow, worth every piece of silver he had spent on it. “Sleep well.” Then, as his thoughts circled, they went to what Azrael had said as well - all those tall tales about how the church was but full of bloodsuckers that desired the downfall of the common people, which they clearly were exploiting and stealing from. The redhead still couldn’t wrap his thoughts around accusations like those, and if they were true, he desired to find his own answer somehow. Was there any way put of this, or any way he could make this worth the journey? Was there any way to forgive this, clearly, confused soul? As his thoughts labored over what it was that he could do, they spiraled deeper and deeper, until all that Ignatius knew was the dark of the night and a knot that he couldn’t tie in his thoughts - he fell asleep, and once he rose the next morning, the sun was already rising again. “Good morning?”, he whispered in Azraels direction. Ignatius took the opportunity to put his boots back on the moment he’d awoken and to drink something, to give their horse something as well, seeing as they had left any feasible body of water behind. Only after did he eat something and start to pack up.

Azrael didn't sleep well, not at all. he was haunted by images of his youth as he predicted and he slept longer than he usually did. Ignatius woke up before him and when he opened his eyes it wasn't at all dark anymore. He was startled and almost mad at himself for his carelessness. He slowly sat up while Ignatius was already starting the day, making himself useful. "Morning.", he forced himself to mumble and without another word got up to get to work himself. He deconstructed their almost tent and packed up and had an eye on Ignatius and Njeri, just to make sure he could handle her. There was nothing much to say, Ignatius already knew the drill, but Azrael wouldn't have minded if he needed to do everything himself. This came as a full service in a way, he knew where to set up camp, how to, what to cook and so on, many of the people hiring him didn't and Ignatius was also one of those. He didn't leave his home before as it seemed.

Once everything was packed up, Azrael drank a bit and then went on to grab some breakfast he'd eat while they were walking. That they did without many words exchanged. Ignatius wanted to walk himself again and Azrael walked up ahead. They made good progress and eventually found a good path back to the main road. Azrael wanted to avoid settlements, but he figured they could make a short break at one, but while they walked on, he looked up at the sky and what he thought to be rain clouds again at first, weren't. "Smoke. Up ahead.", he announced to the priest as he lowered his tempo to gaze on. It was quite a bit away still, but more than a mere campfire. Maybe they ought to go on just a bit more and yet he wasn't quite sure what the best course of action was.

Ignatius didn't figure that any sort of jig was up, not even when he woke up and definitely not when he was barely functioning himself. Being awake had its detriments, all of which were easily explained away, time and time again, only to crop up in much larger margins after the fact. Was there something that he'd missed, or was he simply having a bit too much fun? Oh, Ignatius couldn't even tell, not even during his morning prayer - he ought to get it out of the way lest someone else started thinking for him again, or at least that was what he wanted to use as an excuse. Furthermore, he only followed Azrael when he made his mind up on where to go and as the two of them wandered the vast expanse of nothingness, he had so many more questions than he wanted to admit to. Why was he doubting himself, then? Ignatius didn't know, but what he knew was, that he wanted to eat a proper meal tonight and if that meant he'd have to hunt with Azrael, he'd make it work. Somehow. Not that he was the most gifted hunter, or that he even knew what to do - he'd have to ask for instructions, many more than he actually wanted to get, surely.

Their excursion was far less eventful than he expected it to be - they just wandered for a while and sought out their path, until eventually, they came back to the road that had dried up again after the heavy rain. It was nice to not fear that they'd sink into the mud completely, and that aside, it was even better that they had some time that they could spend with one another without exchanging weird glances. Something was off today for sure, though. Had he ruffled some feathers? Ignatius could not and would not tell. Some things happened, whether they simply had to or because they should and as he was trudging through the landscape, Azrael already alerted him to change. Ignatius was confused - smoke meant fire, at least sometimes, but he couldn't think of any festivities that warranted a large fire. "What do you think it is? Aside from a fire. Do you think a village ... is aflame?", he voiced, though, he probably should know better than to just ask things like that outright. Why even bother?

Azrael walked on, contemplating their possibilities and Ignatius had questions. "Aflame? Not anymore, no... smouldering, but a village, yes.", he answered. "We could take a detour around it, should maybe." Or the went straight through. From here there was no telling what had happened there, or if anyone was still alive, friend or foe. It wasn't only demons that set building alight, sometimes humans did so too and actual biests that were sometimes employed by demons would as well. They were dangerous, because holy symbols only helped so much and they could tread their lands during the day, even if they seldomly did. "We shall get closer and see what we can learn. If it was bandits or creatures then they could still lurk in the woods. Walking around would only mean we're easy pray." He didn't have to explain that to Ignatius, but he wanted him to have a say in this and he wanted him to learn too. Maybe either of them ditched the other once they reached their intermediate goal and Ignatius would do well in having some better survival skills.

Azrael stopped for a moment and looked at Ignatius. "You should ride. Keep your strength, just in case.", he suggested, offering him help up. He sighed too. "I should have taught you how to ride a horse. Faster than just the pace we travel in I mean." Now there was barely any time for it. They could waste time on trying to teach him how to let the horse sprint away from danger and stay on it, but they'd only waste their time and if they had to walk around the settlement, Azrael wanted to be on the other side before sundown. He doubted this had been just an accident, someone not tending to their stove well and setting the whole place aflame and he didn't want to meet who was responsible.

As they now walked towards the village at a snails pace, Ignatius was left to wonder what was happening - he couldn't quite gauge the reality of everything just yet, but as he tried to, he wondered if this would get any worse. "So, it used to be aflame." And they were perhaps a day too late to see it? That had to be some sort of sick joke. From here on, they only had today left to actually reach the next monastery, but they still had more than enough time to actually get there. Would they involve themselves with this kind of thing? Ignatius wasn't so sure anymore. "We're either going through it or going to avoid it, then. Well, whatever works better, I'd say, I'm just going to be behind you, in any case." If they met demons, Ignatius would perhaps even find himself useful, but as for actual human beings? He was unsure if he himself was fit to punish humans, strangers with impure beliefs and even if he was, perhaps he should leave most of it to Azrael, still. In the end, he was the one that was hired to fight and actually skilled when it came to it, in comparison to a priest like him anyway.

He raised an eyebrow. Ride? Alright. He'd be able to take things in stride then and get away faster, he figured, if he needed to anyway. "Fine by me.", he told Azrael and let himself be helped into the saddle. Now, if Njeri tried anything funny, he might just pay for it by falling off of her completely. They got closer eventually, and even now, Azrael seemed to lament that they hadn't spent their time on many feasible things. "We still have enough time after this, if we survive, which I'm pretty sure we will." Getting killed over peanuts was something that his goddess would hardly allow, Ignatius was sure of that in any way. Essentially, he just sat there for a while and inched closer on horseback, with Azrael leading the charge. In any case, the closer they came, the more pungent the smell got - Ignatius didn't like it, and the stark, bellowing smoke hurt in his eyes as well. His gaze drifted to Azrael, who was more suited for the occasion and better at spotting potential threats, too.

Azrael helped Ignatius up, then took the lead. He wasn't sure if Njeri was trained to stay calm in situations like this, or even around fights, probably not. Well, better she took Ignatius with her to safety than all of them dying. "Most likely.", he answered and since Ignatius was fine with all their options, they went ahead. Azrael kept his eyes peeled, trying to make out any unusual movements around them, listening to their surroundings and trying to ignore the smokey smell. It wasn't just wood burning and the closer they got the more apparent it was. Azrael knew this smell all too well, and haunted him to this day, but he long lost his fear of fire. He needed it to survive too after all. "You're very confident.", Azrael pointed out and stopped eventually. The road wasn't as muddy anymore, but there were prints. Humans maybe, traing to get away, but no, the direction was wrong. "Wait here.", he told the priest and let go of the reins. Then he walked to the bushes at the edge of the forest next to the road. Broken branches, crushed leafs,...

Azrael decided to inspect a bit more, he walked along the edges and a bit ahead, then he came back to Ignatius and Njeri. "Trolls and Goblins, most likely. They could still be in town, or roaming the forest, checking the roads..." Azrael sighed. This was bad. Njeri wasn't suitable for walking through the forest and Ignatius wasn't very silent either. On the road they'd be easily spotted too, especially approaching the town. If they were lucky, the bunch had gotten what they wanted and left, maybe there were some people still alive too, if they were unlucky they camped out there, grilling the humans. Someone or something was burning, that was for sure. He took the reins again and led Njeri to the edges of the road. "I could go on ahead, check everything out and then come back. We can discuss further actions then." But he understood if Ignatius didn't want to be left alone. "How well can you defend yourself?" The bridge magic had been powerful enough, maybe he was capable of more and if he could stay on Njeri, he could still flee the way they came.

Azrael led and Ignatius just let himself be paraded around - it wasn't actually too easy to stay put and silent, too - he had fifty things he wanted to ask and seven-hundred of those things were questions that he'd have about the current situation, and then fifty more about some other things, like, why they were actually doing this, right here and now, and if Azrael believed he'd be rewarded for things if he kept up the good work. For one, the priest thought he'd make strides in his contract and tell someone to up the money they gave to this guy, but frankly, if he thought about it, maybe he just did the right thing - maybe the two of them didn't need more than they already had. After all, this was good enough, was it not? And besides that, there was more to all of this. "Me? Well, you need confidence if you want to excel.", he whispered as an answer, fully aware that he could ruin all of this if he wouldn't shut up and instead kept talking like he usually did. The view on the ruined town was a sight to behold - it was beautiful in its warped reality, but saddening, too.

With every heartbeat that warped his chest, Ignatius wanted to die just a little more, be it either because there now was a stone deep in his gut, or because he had simply lost the plot. At some point in time, he ought to understand that this was painful, just as it should be, and that at the moment, he was simply sitting through it. There was nothing he could earn from being silent, except maybe his life and the ability to uphold it. "Trolls and what now?" Ignatius raised an eyebrow the moment he heard it. That was outlandish. These things didn't really exist, right? Demons, sure, but some sort of ugly gnomes that feasted on human flesh? By the gods, that seemed so painfully outlandish. Regardless, wasn't it for the best? It seemed like he would earn a lot more things if he just kept up with Azrael. "I can defend myself just fine ... well, I can defend you, too, if you need that. Shouldn't we dispatch of these things anyway? If there's anyone left they might need help.", he reasoned. Ignatius wasn't quite aware of it, but he honestly still believed that the church would save those people as well if they could, and out here, he was the first and foremost representative of that. "By all means, I can hold my own, you're free to scout the perimeter if you want."

"Goblins.", Azrael reiterated. Ignatius didn't seem to believe him. He knew he was right, he could read tracks just fine. "You want to fight them?", he asked with a raised eyebrow himself. And he wanted to help, huh? If they were still in town and around, they might be better off just crushing through them, but it truly depended on how much they were. "I don't mind a fight. You pay me after all, but I rather not run in headless without even knowing what awaits us. If you want to try and help, fine, straight through town might be our best bet anyway.", he told his employer clearly. "Fine. I'll scout ahead, you stay here and when I know what I want to know, we can discuss further action." With that he already turned around and vanished into the thicket. He didn't want to be seen far ahead, or at all actually. He knew how to tread silenlty and he avoided paths that looked already walked through, but most of them seemed to have come by road. This was too coordinated of an attack for no demon to be involved, but they weren't out here right now during the day.

Azrael made his way through the forest and to the outskirt of the little settlement. It had a wooden wall surrounding it and maybe ten houses inside, nothing more. There was a huge hole at the side of the wall and inside there was nothing much standing. Goblins roamed and some smaller fires were still burning. He also saw one troll guarding the entrance. Only one. Good. He didn't see any people, no captives or otherwise and he couldn't hear any either. With that information he went back the way he came. As he came out of the thicket to meet up with Ignatius again, he brushed off his coat. "Okay here is what I've seen. There is one troll at the entrance and multiple goblins. There might be a chance to sneak past the settlement and kill off any scouts, hopefully silently enough to not alert anyone. Inside the settlement are a bunch more goblins. I didn't see any survivors, but if I'm honest, they like to eat their meat fresh so there could be some, I just don't know where and maybe they're already dead. Judging by the damage they attacked at night and I can only assume a demon led the attack, but of course that one won't show up until it's dark. What do you want to do?"

Ignatius had never heard of these creatures for as long as he was alive, not as a real world plague at least. All he knew of them were fables and the fact that they hardly ever were satiated with what they had, and that was how far his knowledge went. Was he satisfied with that? No. And it didn't seem like they were going to have a history lesson on beast anatomy either, not while he stood there and gauged his surroundings with a keen eye - Azrael went off as he was told, and Ignatius simply snickered to himself. Why wouldn't he want to fight them? Glory was for paladins, but protecting people was for priests - and besides, he itched to make the things that he'd learned over the years known in this whole, wide world. Using up his energy would be one thing, but using a weapon was another - he could cleave and cut through them, just like butter, and if he ought to be able to do such things, he better trained now, while he still had time. The advent of something greater was upon them after all, and if he wanted to be a worthy messiah, he had to stand for what he believed to be right - in that case, that ought to be protecting the people.

For now, he waited and patted Njeri, keeping an eye on his surroundings and watching out for anything that might come his way - in truth, he actually just waited for Azrael, knowingly so, as he couldn't really tell any signs of danger from one another. There was no way he'd be able to, that much was for certain, but he'd learn and today seemed to be a good day for that. Learning aside, wasn't it time that he actually did something, too? Perhaps this was a good opportunity and it was just the right thing to take it for himself. Regardless, though, he'd have to be cautious and he better not overexhaust himself. "Hm, I suggest we leave Njeri somewhere save, then? Injuring her just for this seems ... unwise. Other than that, I still suggest we get rid of them, look for any survivors thereafter and if there are none, we ought to give what remains a proper burial." It was the best idea he could come up with on the spot, but that still was not a good tactic. "Perhaps we should save taking the troll out for last? If we can get past that thing. Unless you have other ideas? I am willing to hear them and act accordingly."

Azrael looked up at Ignatius and for one he had to agree. "You're right.", he nodded and already offered a hand for Ignatius to get off of their horse. Then he led Njeri a bit further in and searched for a small branch he tied her too. She wouldn't run like this, but if she got scared enough for whatever reason, she could probably just break it and run off. That was better than her being eaten. Azrael petted here a little, then came back to Ignatius and kneeled down. "You want to be sneaky? I like it?", he smiled and grabbed a branch. With it he drew a short sketch of the settlement in the dirt. "We can probably get in here at that hole in the wall.", he told the priest "Can you be silent? Sneak in? Otherwise I suggest you stay close but hidden, and I kill whoever I can without alerting anyone. If I do, you can follow me in and help." Ignatius was a bit clumsy and even if he knew offensive spells, they weren't exactly subtle. Unless of course he could somehow hide his presence.

"We can leave the troll for last. Preferably we can kill it before it knows we are there too." Azrael hadn't seen any weapon on Ignatius whatsoever, so he pulled out one of his knives and handed it over. "Just in case, you should have something you can protect yourself with if magic fails for some reason, or you can't cast fast enough." Then he got up. "I should ask... what can you do?" Magic powers came in many forms. Some priests only ever healed, some could shoot fire, or enhance weapons, though a holy weapon wouldn't help with trolls and goblins. He wanted to know who he was working with, what he had to look out for and what he could expect. Well, today he didn't expect much anyhow, he rather only trusted in himself as long as he didn't know who he was working with. In fact, he almost never worked with anybody else.

Endangering their only mode of transportation wasn't a good idea, regardless of their intent. Besides, Njeri hardly deserved it, either. Sure, it ought to be dumb to some people to model their likes that much after the prefernces of an animal, but Ignatius nodded. He was simply happy that the two of them agreed and to have solid ground beneath his feet already meant something. At least he wasn't wandering through the back country with lots and lots of armor on his back, that would hurt him in the long run and besides, it would be annoying to carry around - it wouldn't lead to anything of substance, either. Ignatius snickered at it, albeit as silently as he could. "Why, thank you. I try my best to be of use and in that regard, we don't need to run in and blaze through all of them, especially if we can just quietly pick them off instead." That would also allow him to get closer to the creatures he'd never seen before. Sure, it wasn't a friendly tactic, but nobody fought fair in this here life. "I suggest that would need practice and it might be smarter to let you take the lead." No need to overdo it, or worse, actually put them in harms way because he was too ambitious. "I'll just keep close, as much as I can."

All of this sounded easy in theory, but it definitely wasn't in practice. "It ought to be slow, if the myths are right. Maybe even a bit stupid on the uptake? That would pose as an advantage for us." Frankly, if it wasn't, they just had to work around it anyway. What harm did that do? None, clearly. As long as all of this was smart and controlled and not some stupid, bogus plan that they made up in a minute. Like a curious child, he took the knife from Azrael and smiled, though. "Thank you, I will make good use of it." Perhaps he could also ask the priests at the next monastery for a proper weapon of his own, but for now, that much had to suffice anyway. Did they have anything else they could work with? His magic. "Heal, harm, deceive. Pretty much anything, but I have to say I only ever trained in it, I haven't officially used them in real combat." If Azrael expected something like a thousand icicles, it would not work either. This was everything and nothing that he could do at the same time. Why, wasn't that beautiful? "If you just want me to support you, I can do that, too."

At least for the first part of their plan it seemed like Azrael would need to keep an eye on Ignatius and hope he could stay hidden. He was in that way more like a crutch than anything, but he also didn't want him to be too far away, in case he needed protection. "Dumb yes, slow? Well it moves slow, but it's also big. They can be faster than you'd think.", Azrael explained. "If they manage to hit you, broken bones are the least of your problems too. It's best you stay back." Azrael looked at the priest who in turn looked at the knife almost in awe. Did he never hold one before? Surely to cut at least vegetables, right? Even though those weren't exactly formidable foes. "Mh... following strategies;", he started upon hearing what Ignatius could do, "if we have to fight the goblins, let me take care of the ones up close and try not to get hit by any arrows. If the troll is with them, I clean up the goblins, you deter the troll until I'm done. Best to aim on it's head on blind it, if you can. Once it's only us against the troll, keep doing that, aim at it's head and I will do the rest. Can you do that?"

In a way this was the best he could come up with and it meant not relying on him too much. If he was alone he'd do something similar, only now he had to watch out for him a little too. "Oh and... try not to hit me.", he added the obvious, then walked over to Njeri to pull the cloak he bought in town out of one of the bags. "And wear this. With those white clothes and red hair they'll see you from a mile away." At least as long as they needed to stay hidden, he should try and not stick out. Dark colors were better suited. "Any questions?", he wondered. There were surely more scenarios, but they couldn't plan for everything. First they needed to take a look inside as well, see how many there were, how far they'd get and find possible survivors. Their best chance of saving them would probably be to clear out the settlement however.

Ignatius was willing to do whatever Azrael asked of him if that meant he’d get to see some of the creatures up close and perhaps, he’d even get to kill one or two of them. Wouldn’t that be nice? He’d finally have a tale of his own to tell and better yet, he’d be having fun with it, too! “I’m still supposed to be cautious, then.”, he summarized. That wasn’t a hard task, the only thing he needed to keep in mind was that he needn’t injure Azrael as well. “Worst case they rip my head off?” Perhaps, or even better and he’d be dead in an instant. Things like that could become a problem, but he’d deal with it - he hoped he’d do so, at least. “That I can.” Strategies were supposed to be easy and for the dumb, but in his case, it was more so because he lacked the experience to make informed decisions on his own - he’d have to admit that. Besides, not doing so would probably do more harm than good anyway. “Sounds doable to me, I don’t see why not.”, he agreed with Azrael. In a way, the two of them were due for some bonding and this could he a good opportunity - one keeping the other safe, no?

With that, he clutched the knife he’d gotten - this thing was probably his best bet when it came down to a weapon and it would serve him well, he was sure of it. The only question that he had, though, was whether or not he was able to have fun with this - or if he’d eat dirt in the end. “Don’t worry, you look different enough to me. If that’s of any concern for you.” Perhaps goblins and trolls looked quite different from humans, still, and someone like Ignatius was definitely going to be able to make that distinction. Deep down, he was supposed to love humankind unconditionally, which also meant that Azrael was one of the ones that he’d have to keep very dear, then. Ignatius took the cloak he was given and put it on, pulling the hood down to obscure any of those bright red locks that Azrael seemed to take an issue with - well, they were quite bright and somewhat long too, weren’t they? “Yes, one more question - when can we start?”, he snickered and then shook his head. “No, I don’t have any, honestly. We can start whenever.”

"Worst case they skin and cook you alive.", Azrael corrected Ignatius believes. This seemed all fun and games to him, this was what killed most hunters, but maybe he'd change his opinion once he was in an actual fight. "It's more so my concern that I move and don't want to also have a look out if you shoot something my direction." And he didn't know how good the priests aim was either. Ignatius was joking and he seemed excited. Azrael rather had him concentrated, but there was no use arguing about it. The longer they waited, the worse the chances of finding more suvivors. He sighed, then nodded. "Okay then, follow me, silently and no word anymore.", he instructed his companion and then started to crawl through the thicket. He took the same way he went before, every now and then looking back if the priest was still following him. He was slower than Azrael, but he tried to keep up, even though he seemed to get stuck on branches more often than not. He wasn't very quiet either.

As they arrived back near the settlement, he tapped Ignatius on his shoulder and pointed in the direction of the big hole the troll probably ripped into the wooden wall. That would be their entrance too. Azrael went on ahead and sneaked up to the wall. This settlement was too small to have any guard towers, not even to look over their wall. It also seemed like the goblins were pretty sure of themselves, seeing that they didn't guard that entrance at all. He wasn't sure if they knew of any near monestary or not, but Azrael also doubted anyone would be sent here, if they even saw the smoke. He peeked inside. This place was in shambles, most of the houses roofs had caved in, still smouldering and not a single one was still fully in tact. Azrael motioned Ignatius to follow him inside and keep his head low as they hid behind one of the smouldering buildings. Azrael went on alone, seeing two goblins around a corner that were just talking to eachother. One soon had a knive sticking through his eye and into his brain, Azrael slit the throat of the other, before he could alert anyone. Good thing was these creatures were small, so he dragged them to the side and stuffed the corpses under one of the houses. Then he motioned Ignatius to follow. They could make their way through the camp like this and maybe spot prisoners if there were any. In the middle was the only still burning fire and most of the goblins sat around it and it were quite a few.

Azraels description made it sound more disgusting than it ought to be, but Ignatius figured that perhaps, he wasn’t even wrong. There had to be some truth to his words, no? And even better, it did make him wonder if he was simply losing it all - being a meal for these creatures definitely wouldn’t happen, Ignatius knew as much. That was the last thing he wanted, and besides that, he also wanted nothing more than to actually figure out what on gods green earth was up with any of that. Who would beseech these beasts onto humans? A demon? Apparently so - all those things went in and out of his head as he followed after Azrael, obstructed by not only his surroundings and the thicket he was forced to make his way through, but also his own mentality; he wanted nothing more than to get to the good part, to play the hero or do something that amounted to anything. Besides, who wouldn’t want to be valiant like that? Ignatius almost yearned for it - he didn’t just want to be the messiah in name, but in actions, too, but for that, he had to start somewhere. Slaying some goblins and saving some villagers would be a great start, now that he thought of it.

With that, he just trailed behind the actual hunter, though, marbling at how quickly he made work of the two goblins they spotted first. Gruesome and disgusting, that was pretty much all of this, and that - also - was whatever he envisioned his future to be. There was no sugarcoating it, and while Ignatius was still mesmerized by the disgusting display of brutality, Azrael already beckoned him closer - if he hadn’t already known it, he would have said that this hunter was the most skilled person he knew and that, without anything to worry about, he was actually quite enamored when he thought about how he himself could be like that, too. With the beckoning motion, he followed, his eyes darting every place they could reach - the fire, the goblins, the ruined houses and then Azrael again, who was leading the way. Could he afford to ask? To make a noise? Not necessarily, otherwise he’d be found out and suffer the consequences, too. His mood gradually improved at this point, but he knew that it was idiotic to think anything like that would just be because he was going to be a hero from here on out. Alas, as he watched the fire closer, he had to avert his gaze again - it stunk, probably because they were eating someones corpse and desecrating them, even in their most vulnerable state. Ignatius loathed it, something that he hadn’t been quite sure of not too long ago, and yet, he found that it had simply gotten worse when they inched a bit closer and he couldn’t find a single, living soul.

Ignatius followed as best as he could and Azrael kept taking the lead. He picked off a few more stray goblins, hiding their corpses for now, then beckoned Ignatius closer, showing him the second entrance to town and another troll guarding that one too. Two of them? He pulled Ignatius behind the wall they were currently hiding behind shortly after. Still no signs of any survivors and Azrael thought about what to do next. The goblins had a good time, yelling and laughing and possibly drinking whatever alcohol they could find. Maybe they hid the prisoners in one of the huts, but should they check every single one? Besides, crossing the small plaza in the middle without being seen seemed impossible. Maybe it was time to fight, or leave, if no one was here to be saved anyway. They didn't know that for sure though. Azrael pulled Ignatius closer so he could whisper to him. "You still want to clear them out...?", he asked silently. Maybe alone he could make his way to the other side, but it was risky. He wondered where to position Ignatius best.

"Stay hidden for as long as you can.", he told him, looking behind him. He could squeeze under one of the houses too, if he needed to. Would he be scared to get dirty? Azrael needed to stay close, this would be easier alone, for now at least. He grabbed something from the pockets of his coat, a small bag full of powder. For a moment he wondered if he should just send Ignatius out again, but he'd be an even easier target there if they began to swarm out to search for any intruders. He motioned Ignatius that he was about to go in and then snuk a bit closer to the big fire. With a quick motion he threw the bag into the fire, which caused a quick stir up. Some of the goblins around it caught on fire and Azrael used the commotion to get back behind one of the houses. The goblins knew something was up and they yelled something, some tried to help the ones burning, some of them died or at least wouldn't be able to fight. Azrael wanted to pick off a few more before either of them was spotted, he most definetly didn't want both trolls in on the search but for now they stayed at their post.

Ignatius wanted to be able to trust Azrael to the fullest, regardless of whatever would happen between the two of them in the next few hours. In fact, he ought to trust this guy so much more than just about anyone he‘d ever met at the monastery, he it because he was trying to be understanding in most ways or simply because he tried to open his eyes. And yet, his faith was holding him back, all the while his mind was so terribly interested in this man that it almost hurt - they watched their adversaries after all and while he was struggling to figure out how to deal with them, it only was right that Azrael already seemed to have an answer for that ailment in particular. How odd this guy could be, no? “I stand by my word, yes.”, the priest almost immediately announced upon being prompted to do so, his volume having been dampened by his own foresight - if he was loud now, he wouldn’t gain anything from it aside from his own defeat, was it not so? Praying, at a time like this, also seemed like a fairly idiotic decision, all things considered.

“What are you … fine.” It didn’t seem like Azrael was going to give him the chance of being heroic either, not now that their tactics seemed to have changed. Could this day get any less interesting? Ignatius was mentally rolling his eyes and physically doing what he was told to do; it didn’t matter if he wanted to do something, he ought to listen to the more seasoned hunter that took enough pity on him to even entertain his stupid thoughts. Azrael was the one that claimed to not like paladins, wasn’t he? Perhaps there was a reason for that. Ever so curious, his gaze trailed after the man that wanted nothing but a fair share of coin for his deeds - Ignatius envied the way he lived, maybe. Maybe he even envied the man itself. It didn’t help that he caused a stir among the vile creatures soon enough, causing them to prance in all directions as disorientation plagued some, if not most of them. Was that why he was told to hide? He bated his breath as he kneeled there, at the corner of some building that no longer bore any semblance to anything that it could have been. Well, what could Ignatius do? Help Azrael, right. Sure, he could try that - he mumbled an incantation, a quick one this time, that resulted in a blinding flash of light. Perhaps the fire ought as well to do those in that now couldn’t even help the others, as they were temporarily robbed of their vision.

Once panic broke lose in that camp a few goblins tried to find the intruders, while others tried to help or were just confused. Azrael could see a second flash happening behind the building he was and once the first goblin came around the corner, he grabbed him and slit his throat, then casting him to the ground. A second one followed as surprised and confused as the last and as he looked over to Ignatius, Azrael pulled out a knive to throw it past him, hitting another one. He gurgled, wasn't immedietly dead but at least out of comission. That flash was the priest, wasn't it? By now those creatures surely knew where they were roughly. "Do that again and stay close.", he prompted his companion and once he saw the flash, rushed around the corner with his sword, killing a few more of those creatures. Another knive hit a goblin that tried to get higher up to use his bow and while they got more organized, Azrael turned back, grabbing Ignatius and dragging him with him away from those little fuckers.

"The troll is next.", he informed him, honestly hoping that they'd still catch it off guard. If they could kill enough, maybe the rest would just flee. They were running towards a corner at the back, close to the gate. "You stay there, hide if necessary." Being hit by an arrow could not be so bad, or it could end in death. Ignatius should be able to hide from any balistics if he needed to, but still see the troll around the corner. This was risky and he knew that he constantly had to have an eye on the priest, which split his concentration. Still, he was willing to try this and he had killed worse than two trolls before. He was more worried about the goblins interfering, but the ones in meele range would not. Trolls weren't very smart, nor did they think about their actions. If a goblin was in the way of it's swing, it would just hit them with no regrets. "It's head", he reminded the priest before he left his side to run ahead, straight at the beast that now slowly turned into his direction, club in hand.

He could be useful, that much he knew - but that aside, what else could he do? Ignatius was wondering about that by the time it just so happened to be almost his turn to get mauled - he looked at the knife that flew past him, narrowly avoiding him, and got one of those goblins. Hook, line and sinker, as his teacher would say - only to waffle about having been a fishers son afterward. If that was all it needed, not only was he envious of Azrael, he was downright jealous; he looked confident while doing this, and it had had him quaking in his boots. Ignatius was pleased to say the least. With that, although, he also had to come to terms with the less fine things in life - moving from his spot to elsewhere, after the hunter, but using a silly spell all the same. Should he confess that this kind of spell was usually used by kids? Was he supposed to mention something akin to the fact that this wasn’t intended for combat but rather to make fun of one another? He wondered, but even as he did, it simply was all the same - it helped, so it didn’t matter where it was from. It had to work.

“We’re really taking that thing on, huh?” Ignatius snorted, he wasn’t so sure that they’d even get that far, and yet, there wasn’t much more that they needed to do - dispatch of the trolls and then hope that the goblins would be easy to deal with. Who even was the brain of that operation? He ought to ask and yet, still, could not find an answer for that which ailed him in that peculiar moment. Frankly, it didn’t matter - what mattered was that they both got out of here unscathed and Ignatius, and his mix of fluctuating emotions, were ready for all of that. To say all of this had happened on a heroic whim was odd and yet it was just that - he did as he was told after all, even if he’d given the initial command. They could push forward like that and with this in mind, he nodded. “The head. Also, don’t worry about me.”, he wanted to tack on. Az’ focus should be on that thing, not him, for a good reason - they ought to both be aware of their own surroundings. Trolls were idiotic, he figured before, but all it needed in that case was a spell to blind the beast, perhaps even stun it. His little flash from before was out of question, lest he’d blind Azrael as well, which meant that he’d have to think of another - his magic was supposed to be light, that of the gods either way, but the small cloud of miasma that he conjured around the now blinded brutes head, it perhaps was anything but that. Magic had it’s up- and downsides and this one was particularly interesting, at least to him - at least because it was fun to dabble in. Permanently blind it, though? That needed a bit more pressure - Ignatius applied the slightest bit more pressure to his spell, turning it into a snare that dug into the skin and flesh underneath. It still guaranteed nothing, but it was better than simply leaving it up to chance - he ought to concentrate on the spell, however, lest his partner in crime would be out of commission too soon.