Their trip back home was much less eventful, as no large party of people was set upon killing them. Now however each time they were besieged by beasts, Rose no longer stopped her inter- demon from coming out. At first it was very weird to see this thin,shy and remote young woman become elongated, clawed and savage.
Roses body would became fast, stronger and incredible flexible. The bow even seemed to become more sinister and more deadly. As the journey continued, they saw her slowly gain control of these changes becoming far less pronounced and controlled. The only thing that could not be changed was her savage need for demon blood. Some how it not only calmed the other Rose but let her gain more power, strength and magic.
Her friends at first were constantly on guard during these moments but strangely as Rose gained a more integrated personality, they slowly adjusted as well. After a while they even didn't feel shocked by the change and were impressed by her new and improved fighting style.
Castle and Dingo felt much more at ease at taking on larger predictors and the team became more cohesive.Only Ember kept calling her a freak and openly told her off more. However they all knew her personality was like that and it proved she accepted Rose because there was no fear any more in her voice.
Finally they arrived back in town and all of them were tired wanting a bath, a bed and some food, mostly in that order. As they neared the guild they found very few people or stragglers hanging around outside which was a little strange. Usually their would be a group of low level adventures sitting or talking on the cut logs outside.
When we entered the guild we went to the left to turn in our collected spoils from our trip which turned out to be a lot. Just before entering the town we had built a travoise and loaded it up from my catch all bag. We were all surprised at the amount filling the travoise till it almost broke from the weight. In addition we had to fill our backpacks with the variety of herbs and flowers collected as well.
Even the processors were impressed by the amount and quantity as well as quality of our goods. The furs and trophies were far beyond what any other trip had netted them and adding in the herbs we had made a lot of profit. The head Dwarf was so impressed he had to wonder about how they had managed to carry it all back.
When they returned to hand in their cards to get payed they were shocked by how few adventures were there. Strangely only about half the tables were filled and mostly by new comers. Their voices dropped as their group entered which was kinda normal considering they had a dragonet and demon marked with them but still it was even stranger then the last time.
Rose still remembered when she had been confronted hostily for being demon marked. The counter help raised a finger to them and said she would be right back to help them then vanished into a doorway. One could have easily heard a pin drop it was so quiet in the hall not a soul made a sound or even picked up a cup.
Soon the counter girl with Creater in hand returned, he quickly motioned them to the back. They followed him willingly to get away from all the strangeness of the hall Rose almost missed the pass hostilitie LOL. She was glad to hear noise start back up as they continued deeper into the building.
Creator seemed the same as always, an older man with a indomitable spirit that was confident and held command in his every step. Castle looked happy to see him, Ember of coarse happy to follow Castle and Windy of coarse just looked tired. I don't really knew what I was feeling and Dingo just gave me a smirk and a pat on the head.
As we entered the same meeting room as before and Creator set the runes to be active we let out a sigh of relief. However when he turned to us, his face was now showing the wrinkles of his many years. I did not really understand what had happened but the others immediately took up a high alert stance. Being a tightly woven group if even one of us felt it we all did.
Creators slowly lowered his body into his chair and a quiet sigh escaped him. "I am so glad that you have all made it back safely and hate to have to bring you both good and bad news. When the mail coach made it back to us with those few survivors I thought the worst. The story they told that day put you guys into a very difficult position, first telling us of Bronco and his group terrorizing and killing their people."
"Then the coachmen telling of the fight you faced and how a demon came to your aid to helped you survive and then vanished into the woods. Later the people told of how you rescued them and helped bury their dead and the coachman gave us that demon burnt core and for a second I though Rose must have lost her humanity and you had to kill her. However the coachman said that wasn't true and you were with the group last they saw as they headed out, so I was relieved but still confused.
Then the church came to my door about four days ago with a different tale said to come from another survivor. This one's story was vastly different, he claimed that his group which included Bronco came their because they were hunting a demon in those parts. That the townspeople had been attacked and half out of their minds attacked their party. Thus they had to be restrained and not long after you all arrived. He says when Bronco confronted your party for being in cooperation with demons you attacked first.
He goes on to tell how Rose became a towering demon who spewed fire and sucked the souls out of his friends. Then finally ran for his life to the church to seek safety and protection. Lastly he claimed that you all are infected and demon marked and under her brainwashing control. The church wants you to be turned into them for interrogation and to be given redemption to your souls.
I have finally contacted some higher ups in the government to hold a fair trail in the state capital. Otherwise, I fear you would be killed without having a word spoken on and for your defense. I have secreted away the witnesses and the survivor to the capital so they are safe and able to testify. Which is the good news but the bad news is that the church has basically locked down this town since then.
The high priest want a demon to string up in their courtyard and is not to picky if it really a turned human or just a marked one. Rose is his ticket to a higher rank and probably a higher order in a different and much more prosperous town.