Cruelty and Kindness
BvZ fantasy style au tw- death, mild gore mention, sedatives Asking most people in their line of work about them, they would point out how strange this particular group was. Not in composition, no that was fairly standard, swordsman, crossbowman, mage, priestess, artificer and doctor. No what was strange about this particular group was how they chose to opperate.
Most hunter groups were pretty simple in how they did things, find the monster, kill the monster, get a small part of the monster as proof of the kill, get paid.
A smaller but still sizeable number of groups were trophy hunters, taking whatever they could from the cratures they killed as prizes along with their payment.
The smallest category of hunters were, lacking a better term, kind. When hunting they tried to avoid killing if possible. Relocation, rehabilitation, curing curses and afflictions that transformed people into monsters. They only killed if there was no other option to them.
Most of their peers found this to be very strange, a waste of time, pointless, but the few who took this path didn't care for the opinions of the others, only what they did.
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It was a rather quiet day at the base, Hipswitch was checking over the groups tools, looking for any that needed repairs or enchantments redone. His hat lay off to the side as he checked every part of his crossbow for faults or damage.
Next to him the group's newest member, Karmor, was focusing hard on a spell book, doing his best to focus his magic power without it getting out of hand.
Their resident swordsman and drunk pain in the ass, Albus was napping off his latest round of drinks, loud snores occassionally coming from the half demon.
Sounds of arcane forces being etched into metal could be heard from Devlin's workshop, that man never seemed to take a break, always building or improving the group's equipment.
From the window he could see Faithful and Kerano, the group's priestess and the young girl she took in, working out in the garden. She was teaching the little girl which plants were for food and which were ingredients for the potions and poisons the group needed to do their jobs.
Such a quiet, peaceful day was a rarity in their line of work. Just as he turned to his partner, ready to ask how he was doing, one of the doctors came into the room, seeming a bit on edge. Mahatma then. He and his brother Attila were in charge of medicine, poison, research and determining if a creature they hunted had a chance to be rehabilitated or relocated.
"Hipswitch, a message just came in for you. Another group of hunters failed to check in after taking a scouting job. They failed to report back so the guild is asking you to go and find out what happened."
"So much for peaceful." He muttered, standing up with a stretch and a groan before putting on his hat. "Albus, Partner, get your gear and get ready to head out." He stepped towards Mahatma, gathering that the only known monsters in the area the hunters were last seen was a small pack of natural werewolves.
He could hear Albus and his partner groaning a bit as he went to get more tranqs as well as exploding bolts for his crossbow. He preferred not to just kill the monters they came across, but the bolts were designed to at least give a quick death to those that they had no choice but to kil.
Once he returned to the front of the base the others were already geared up, Hipswitch grabbed his crossbow from the table where he'd been examining it, double checked the rest of his things and headed out the door. It would take about half a day on foot to reach the last area the missing group of hunters was seen.
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"Gods above are we almost there yet?!" Albus was clearly getting bored and looked ready to fight just about anything that moved. Hipswitch didn't really like that part of the cambian's nature but his strength was nothing to sneeze at. And while Albus didn't always like the fact that killing wasn't the first choice, he was at least willing to follow the rule to make a monster's death quick and painless. Most of the time anyway. Some did things that crossed a line and when the group met them, well nothing really would stop the half demon at that point.
"Quit your whinin', Albus, yes we're almost there. The temporary base location the hunters gave to the guild is about ten minutes walk away." Hipswitch turned to his partner, placing a reassuring hand on his shoulder. Karmor was still rather new to this life and the twitchy guy tended to get very nervous on jobs. Well considering how easy it was for his magic to go haywire it wasn't really a surprise.
As they got closer to the camp, Albus stopped dead in his tracks, signaling to the others something was wrong. "I smell blood. A whole fucking lot of it." He paused, sniffing the air, seeming very on edge. "Some rotten, but a lot of it fresh. Whatever happened here, it ain't pretty."
Hearing this Karmor flinched a bit but pulled out his spell book. He closed his eyes and focused, casting a protective spell over the group. It wasn't the most powerful thing but it could prevent small wounds entirely and would slow the bleeding of larger ones long enough to apply first aid. Even if he wished he could help more he was still early in his training and trying to cast something more powerful would likely just lead to him hurting his friends. As frustrating as it was, he had to stick to small things like this to help for now.
They slowly moved closer, keeping low and making sure to stay downwind. Most monsters had keen senses, especially smell and especially werewolves, so staying downwind would lessen the chance of alerting the beast.
Finally, the light of the camp's fire came into view, along with a scene that almost had Karmor throwing up in a nearby bush. Hipswitch began to load his crossbow and Albus prepared to leap out and strike. Bodies were strewn about, or well pieces of them were. In the center of the bodies was a single hunter and a single small werewolf. A jeuvenile? Too big to be a pup but didn't look to be fully grown either. The beast was growling, fangs bared, coated in blood and gore, but it stood unmoving, staring down at the terrified man on the ground. The hunter was begging, holding something up to the beast. They had paused just a moment too long, and while group couldn't make out what it was the hunter offered up, seeing it seemed to send the beast into a rage.
Faster than any of them could have expected, faster than Hipswitch could even see let alone shoot, the beast lunged and crushed the man's head in it's jaws. It picked something up off the ground and bolted into the woods. "Shit." Albus lept forwards but the creature was gone, well there wasn't anywhere it could go he couldn't track.
With a sigh Hipswitch stood and moved towards the camp and began to look for clues. Natural born werewolves didn't have mindless rampages like turned humans did, when they did something like this, it was calculated.
It took about ten minutes of digging through dead men's belongings and corpses before he found an answer. "Aw hell, this group are trophy hunters." Whenever anyone talks about how dangerous this job is its either the people who go after elder vampires and raging dragons, or trophy hunters. The latter because they tend not to think or plan, they just want something to brag about. This often led to the hunters being tracked down and mauled by relatives of their 'trophies'. They were the sort that Hipswitch despised with a passion.
"Fuckin bastards. Well looks like they deserved what happened. But we still gotta find that wolf, make sure it doesn't go after any civilians yea?" Albus stretched and began walking in the direction the creature had run.
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With how strong the scent of blood was it didn't take too long to find where the creature had run off to. A small, cozy cabin out in the woods. And in the back, in the middle of a well cared for flowerbed, was the beast. Digging a hole.
The light of the moon as well as that coming from the cabin allowed them to see what the creature had grabbed, what had sent it into such a frenzy. Pelts. Two, pale, golden, werewolf pelts. One clearly came from an adult, the other....it could only have come from a pup.
Once the wolf deemed it deep enough, it placed the pelts into the hole and began to bury them. Soon enough, after patting the soil down flat, it looked up at the moon, letting out the most sorrowful howl any of them had heard. No reply came, meaning these wolves hadn't been part of a larger pack, just a small family unit. And now, just a single member remained.
Karmor was crying, Albus looked like he wanted to find a way to kill the hunters again and Hipswitch, well he sighed and loaded his crossbow with a tranq. He couldn't possibly leave the wolf out here, entirely alone. That would just be cruel, and it had clearly suffered enough cruelty already.
Quickly the crossbow fired, the specialized bolt embedding itself into the werewolf's leg. It woke up, letting out a yelp but didn't move to get up as the group approached. It growled weakly, the drugs working through it's system fast. By the time Hipswitch got close and pulled out the bolt, it was already unconscious.
"Partner, head into the cabin and see about grabbing some clothes and blankets." Hipswitch instructed as he crouched down, checking to see if the creature had any wounds that would need tending to.
While Karmor headed inside to gather up what he could, Hipswitch pulled out a small enchanted stone. Tracing the rune activated the magic and within seconds a voice was heard from the stone. "Hipswitch? Is everything ok?" The man sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. "Wouldn't go that far Doc. None of us are hurt but the trophy hunters we were sent to check on are in pieces. We're bringin the wolf back with us, have Devlin prepare enchanted restraints and you get whatever you need ready as well. My partner's grabbin some things from the beasts home and then we're headin back." There was a long pause before Mahatma voice came through again. "Alright, everything will be ready to go by the time you get back."
Soon Karmor reappeared with some folded clothes and a large blanket. Albus lifted up the sleeping wolf and the group began the journey back home.
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The sun was just beginning to rise when they finally made it back, they'd had to re-administer sedatives a few times to the wolf during the journey and the whole group was exhausted but overall the trip back was uneventful.
When they came inside Devlin was waiting in the living room, a set of enchanted restraints at the ready. "Alright, let's head back to the lab and get our new friend here situated." The twins would need to examine the group's new ward in it's transformed state before the enchantment to force them into human shape was activated.
Hipswitch took the blanket and clothes from his partner and motioned for him to go rest as he and Albus headed back to the lab, Devlin following close behind with the restraints. Karmor waved to the others and headed off to bed, looking ready to fall asleep on his feet.
The lab was colder than the rest of the base, though it never seemed to bother Mahatma or Attila, it was why they always grabbed blankets for anyone or anything they brought back for rehabbing. With practiced ease, Albus placed the werewolf onto the medical table before leaving, knowing he would only be in the way otherwise.
"I ain't sure how this one will react when it wakes up, it went on a vengeful rampage before havin....well a funeral I suppose and going to sleep. I assume you and Attila can handle whatever happens right?" He was very much hoping so, he needed to get some rest before he wrote up the formal report for the guild.
"Of course we can, now get the fuck out of our lab before you fall over and break something." Attila snapped before his brother could answer, already wheeling a small tray full of tools over to the exam table.
Mahatma sighed before turning to Hipswitch. "Don't worry, we can handle things here just fine, you go get some sleep." Hipswitch didn't need to be told twice, turning and heading off to his room to sleep.
"Alright let's get to work." Mahatma headed over and administered a new syrum, this one combined the sedative with a painkiller. He knew Attila would want to collect more than just a blood sample and he didn't want the wolf waking up in pain.
Once the injection was done and had a few minutes to kick in, Mahatma began to take measurements and look for any deformities. Meanwhile his brother gathered samples. Fur, blood, saliva and finally a fang. He used an extra numbing agent in the beast's mouth, not wanting to get a lecture on being 'inhumane' later before pulling out the left upper fang from the beast's mouth.
An application of some medicine closed up the wound in the mouth and finally Devlin was motioned over. He carefully clamped enchanted cuffs around the wrists and ankles of the creature, double checking the runes before activating them.
Soon the beast form began to fade and a young man lay on the exam table. "Not a jeuvenile, but a fully grown runt. Interesting." Attila would hopefully be able to get some good information from this.
Mahatma rolled his eyes and grabbed a warm, wet cloth, beginning to clean the blood from the unconscious man. Soon enough their patient was clean and dressed in the clothing that was brought in with him. After wrapping him in a blanket they moved him to the cell off to the side of the lab and laid him down to sleep off the sedatives.
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When Sibren finally awoke he didn't know what was going on. He was warm, wrapped in the comforting scent of home and his family, but when he opened his eyes he had no idea where he was.
Bolting upright abruptly, he saw the restraints on his wrists and began trying to pull them off. Nothing he did worked, tugging, biting, banging them against the wall.
It wasn't long before his panicked struggles caught the attention of the others in the base. He heard someone yell something from somewhere else in the building and in moments there were two figures standing in front of the cell. He backed away into the corner of the cell, as far from the door as possible, growling lowly. He recognized the sigil they each had embroidered on their jackets. "HUNTERS!" He practically screamed, bristling and panicked, looking around wildly for any way to escape or defend himself.
One looked at him and began to speak gently, a soft warm smile on his face. "It's ok, you're ok. I'm doctor Mahatma, and this is my brother Attila. We work with rehabilitation hunters." The man chuckled softly at the confused look Sibren gave them.
The other then spoke up. "Basically Runt, we try to get monsters to relocate or find them work and homes instead of just killing them. So why don't you calm the fuck down." The gentler one turned and hissed to his brother. "Attila, don't be mean."
Turning back to the door he smiled once more before speaking. "Will you stay calm and let me come in so we can talk and bring you food?"
Sibren wanted to retort, to thrash and snarl, but a loud growl from his stomach had him turning red and slowly nodding his head. "....Fine."
Mahatma hummed and unlocked the door, stepping inside with a plate of food and having a seat on the cot, motioning the other over. The wolf cautiously approached taking a seat next to the man and sniffing the offered food. It didn't bare the scent of wolfsbane so he began to dig into the food, drawing an amused chuckle from the doctor.
When he finished eating Mahatma picked up the blanket from the bed and wrapped it around the wolf, humming softly. "Now, I'm going to ask a few questions and explain some things alright?" After getting a nod the doctor continued.
"What is your name?"
"Sibren."
"You're a born werewolf correct?"
"Yes."
"How old are you?"
"Twenty-three."
"Do you have a pack?"
A pause, followed by the wolf shrinking into the blanket more. "...No. Not anymore."
"Why did you kill the hunters?"
"They....They killed my mom and sister.....We never bothered anyone... but they took them anyway..." He was on the verge of tears, shaking in the blanket.
"Did you attack anyone besides the hunters?"
"No."
A slight hum before the man spoke again. "Alright, here's how things will go moving forward. Based on your answers I think you are a good candidate for rehabilitation. What exactly that looks like in the long term will be determined at a later time. For now it means you will be staying here. You'll have food, clothing and shelter. Your restraints will keep you on the property and prevent you from trying to attack anyone. Should you wander too far or try to hurt someone the enchantments will sedate you and alert us, understand?" There was a nod from the werewolf.
"Good. Attila and I will also expect your cooperation in our studies. Natural born werewolves are rare and we are key members in charge of studying monsters. Most of these tests wont be too invasive, but the few that might cause pain or distress will be done with you sedated."
Sibren flinched a bit hearing about the sedation but nodded, he couldn't fight them off with the shackles on anyway, so panicking again wouldn't help much. He did wrap himself tighter in his blanket however.
Mahatma hummed and soon picked up the smaller man, stepping out of the cell, leading to a confused yelp from Sibren. "Why are you carrying me?"
A laugh. "Well since it seems you're going to behave I thought I'd bring you somewhere more comfortable to rest." Well that didn't explain why he needed to be carried but Sibren couldn't deny it was kind of, nice.
The gentle sound of the doctor's heartbeat combined with the warmth of the blanket had him beginning to doze off again. His thrashing and freaking out earlier had drained him quite a bit, and he still hadn't fully recovered from his rampage.
Within a few moments he felt himself placed on something far softer than the cot in the cell had been. It was a far warmer place as well.
A gentle hand began to pet his hair and rub his back, making it increasingly hard to keep his eyes open. "Go to sleep now, you're safe here."
Soon he lost the fight against his fatigue, slipping into a deep sleep as the doctor and his brother spoke softly at each other.
He had lost everything, his home, his family, his freedom, but he was at least being given a chance to live. He wouldn't take it for granted either, his mom would want him to survive after all.
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