Dark servant, Good deed

[Johan]

Maccabeus could see clearly that Severen was a practical man. "We should maybe see Julius to find out of there were any prisoners taken." He suggested as he collected teeth and threw them into the pile that Severen had started. He then picked his rock up and split another muzzle with it.

"It's a bit of a wonder that these teeth don't break when we smash them." He mused. "Probably a good thing, all things considered."

[Wildfire]

Severen continued to break teeth out of the creatures maw. "Those assassins that you see in that cart over there are from Xanthakos...The Shadow Empire. They're scouts most likely. Just trying to feel the place out. As for prisoners I don't know. If one is captured though I've got a good way to get him to talk. Just stick one of these teeth into his flesh and he'll start to get eaten from the inside out. If you start with the arm it's easier to control. If you care to you can actually kill the little bugger while it's in the limbs. Trust me, once that thing starts to eat you'll get your information. Usually with a promise to make it stop eating. Personally, I'd get the information and then let it kill the prisoner and then kill the beast. That way, all tracks are covered."

[Johan]

Maccabeus's disgust for the beasts clearly showed in his face as he listened to Severen. More agents of Zyxu, no doubt. He thought acidly. He would have to ask Ashe about that.

They'll make a good offering to Takhisis as would the assassins. I'll have to check with Julius on that."

Maccabeus was brought up short on that. "Assassins?" He asked blankly. "What would assassins be doing here?" He wondered aloud. "Did these assassins start the fire? Why? Did anyone manage to catch any of these assassins? Perhaps we could ask him some questions?"

He deflated as he listened to his own idiocy. "I'm sorry, Severen." He apologized yet again. "My mind sometimes moves so swiftly I neglect to disengage my mouth." Remembering the job that they were there to do, Maccabeus hoisted he large rock above his head and brought it down upon the abomination's cranium. He was met with a satisfying crunch of bone as the beast's mouth and jaw were sundered.

[Wildfire]

"They most certainly are not natural. They are the product of Divine and Arcane magic gone foul or used fouly. As you can see their lust for flesh perpetuates their existence. They're like a disease in the form of a beast. Occasionally they do carry disease. So try not to get bit by one. Which reminds me, these bodies should also be burned. I'll do that in my temple. They'll make a good offering to Takhisis as would the assassins. I'll have to check with Julius on that."

Maccabeus could see Severen look at his blood soaked hands and then look up to the sky with a thirsty smile.

[Johan]

Maccabeus got a foul taste in his mouth as he attended Severen's lesson. "These things surely can't be the work of Mahiya, then?"

[Wildfire]

"Not at all. The teeth could be likened to eggs. As the beasts eat the teeth break off into the body and are then 'planted'." He rolls the spiney body he's working on over onto it's back and spreads the hindlegs. "See, these creatures are asexual. All of their offspring are generated from within."

Looking at the torn creature Maccabeus could see that the beast had no reproductive organs in the normal sense. This was an oddity for Maccabeus since every creature he had ever seen had a male and female counterpart...these beasts didn't.

[Johan]

"As though I'm counting." Maccabeus said wryly. He brought his rock up high over his head and bashed at the skull of one of the corpse-eaters. The strike was largely ineffectual and he had to repeat the process.

"Here's another one for you, then: when a body is burned, it is typically the bones that remain (teeth included, of course). Do you have to burn them with a special fire? Perhaps in a forge or oast?"

[Wildfire]

"That's a good question...I'm glad you asked. Even when the carcass is burned there are still ashes that the teeth can manifest in and draw energy from for to grow. So, the teeth have to be away from any body that is alive or dead when they are burned. Burning them guarantees their destruction. If you were to keep the teeth you could actually plant them around in living or dead bodies and they would grow like a maggot into a fly." Severen kept bashing out teeth and tossing them into a pile.

"The reason I need you to watch what I'm doing is because when I hand the teeth to Julius I don't want him to think that I've kept any. Basically, I'm covering my own hindparts."

[Johan]

"Interesting." Maccabeus observed. "Forgive my ignorance, but why not simply burn the entire carcass?" As he spoke, cast about for something heavy enough to begin knocking the sharp teeth from the beasts. His eyes alit on a fair sized rock and he moved to retrieve it.

[Wildfire]

"Perhaps we could discuss it at a later time. Right now what needs to be done is the teeth need to be removed from the Corpse Eaters over here..." he points towards the cart full of dead villagers, ambushers, and creatures "...and they need to be burned. If they're left to rot in the bodies they'll fester into more of them...and carry the loyalties from wence they came. These are dangerous beasts."

He pulls one of the creatures bodies off of the cart. It hits the ground in a bloody heap. He pulls all of the others down as well...six in all. The stink of the bodies was almost overwhelming. "I hate these creatures! They offer no dignity in death! Death is my province and they ruin it. These mindless creatures have no respect." He cast off his cloak revealing his frame and an array of weapons on his belt. He takes up his mace and begins the grisly task of smashing the teeth out of the beasts. He seemed to enjoy his work as he began to smile wide at his destruction of the vile creatures.

"If you want to help you're more than welcome."

[Johan]

"Ah. ignorance: my true enemy." Maccabeus said sagely. "At least, that's what my preceptor kept telling me." He chuckled quietly.

"People are an interesting lot." Maccabeus observed. "Anything is subject to being labeled as evil based upon their fears. I include myself, of course. I'm not divine after all." He laughed at that thought.

"I find that one of the hardest things to impress upon people is that death is a natural occurrence, and her agents are not necessarily evil. I knew one who referred to himself as a Death Guide. Most folks hated him, seeing him as one who brought death. What they failed to take into account is that death is coming any way. He was there ease the transition. I don't know that I want to be alone for that transition. As natural as it is, it is still an intimidating transformation, you know?"

"Ach, hear how morbid I sound! I'm sorry, Severen. I'm sure that you're not here to discuss such things. What is it that you'd have me witness?"

[Wildfire]

"I get amused at people's ignorance in their assumptions of who I am based on what I am. Without even talking with me to find out my purpose or persuasions they assume that I'm the evil one. From my point of view it's their ignorance that leads to evil. At the end of the night it is what it is. If they choose to live with their head in the sand then so be it. It'll lend to them a quicker death and we can be rid of their...stupidity." Severen said boldly.

[Johan]

Maccabeus smiled at the thin man and answered "I'm a servant of Mahiya and her Divine children."

"It is a good thing, I think, to have have all of the Divinities represented here. Not something that you see so readily, I think. Tell me, you call attention to the notion that many don't like for you to be here; is that a matter of satisfaction for you? Are you amused by people's reactions to those things that they don't understand, or is it just a matter of being what is?

[Wildfire]

Severen tips his head slightly and says, "I have come here to answer the calling of Takhisis. I am of the divine Order of Living Night. My charge is to make sure that a balance remains in the divine representations here in Threshold...to many's disliking. And yourself?"

[Johan]

"A name?" Maccabeus appeared a little confused by this question. "No. Wolves don't identify each other in such banausic manner. I just call him Wolf." He alit from Wolf's broad back and ruffed the fur on his friend's cheek.

"Be carerful, if you've no affinity. He is not tame or domestic in the urban sense."

"Tell me, Severen, what is it that you do here in Threshold?"