[Years Before The Emergence Of The Sins, Countryside Of Laparadi]
"Mmh, oui, I can feel it, it is hiding within this enormous forest with very little visibility and a soil that is more muddy than mud, perhaps the surroundings of the forest too" spoke a young man wearing a light grey coat that reached just above his ankles.
He spoke confidently with a smile as used one hand to snap his fingers as he spoke and the other to hold a staff that was almost as tall as he was, his dark, long hair were neatly tied behind his head, only covering his nape this way.
Standing right next to him, soaking wet under the heavy rain that was befalling the both a them, a man that seemed just as young as the other was standing with his arm crossed, not looking very amused, his hair had an hint of ginger in them.
He had a sword strapped to his waist and a spear tucked against his body since both his arms were busy expressing his discontentment.
"Rolanh, I can't help but notice that you seem a little upset, did you eat something weird? A mushroom perhaps?" asked the young man with the staff as if he was oblivious to why Rolanh was angry.
"Dear lord Theli, didn't you say that you predicted a warm day with no pertubations for today, I am starting to suspect, no, I know you are bullshitting me, you don't actually know how to predict the weather, do you?" responded the spearman as he uncrossed his arms and grasped his spear, slamming the end of it on the ground as he spoke, causing some mud to spill around.
"I can absolutely predict the weather, I can also read your future if you lent me your palm for a second, it's just that I thought that a good rain would mask our odor and allow us to catch that cattle killer more easily, but, had I told you the truth you wouldn't have gone with me and what is a poor, defenseless mage like me supposed to do all by myself?" Theli said with his broad, sharp smile and his empty eyes.
Rolanh rubbed the bridge of his nose, he couldn't believe that he was still falling for his traps after so long.
"By the way, why is it only the two of us? I remember us getting a whole team of other adventurers to accompany us?" asked Theli as he looked around.
"Well, you remember wrong because everyone turned us down, because everyone know you by now, there are basically no women left since you knocked them all up, somehow, and thus, all of the men, despise you" explained Rolanh as he went ahead and started walking forward, sinking into the mud like an anchor at sea.
"It's always the same thing with you, we get to a new place, you use your snake charms and suddenly were all alone" Theli just made himself and Rolanh float up as he started moving around the dense forest.
"Not even that rapier user was willing to join?" asked Theli as granted night vision to Rolanh with a spell.
"He is out of commission, you should know that" Rolanh scanned the trees up and down as well as the ground.
"Can you really blame me? He looks just like a woman and I would have thought that an adventurer could handle this much, a rapier is supposed to be a pretty heavy weapon you know? About as heavy as a longsword" Theli justified himself.
"Also, my snake charms as you put it as gotten us out of many situations too, you should be thankful for my groundbreaking charisma, you would be rotting away if I hadn't seduced that sphinx lady" he added afterward with a slick grin.
"Don't talk about this, it makes me imagine horrible images, like, how? I would never consider someone whose lower half is a goshdarn cat" Rolanh shuddered at the thought.
"That's because your close-minded, let me tell you- Something over there" pointed out Theli and the both of them were soon staring at a cave entrance from which, a certain bloodlust was coming from, the inhabitant or inhabitants had noticed them and wasn't happy in the least about it.
Undeterred, Theli just floated closer, to spot where the ground was stone rather than dirt, where the two of them could stand without sinking to the center of the world.
The two men were quite relaxed as a huge, dark beast came walking out of the cave, they could already see it thanks to the nightvision but now that it stepped outside of the thicker darkness of the cave, it's features were easier to make out.
It was about the size of a huge bear and incredibly furry, it had floppy ears and was growling agressively, seemingly ready to pounce any second.
"Mmh, I have no idea what this is, must be some sort of unique monster or animal" remarked Theli as the beast tried to attack but found it impossible as both of its hind legs were being held by ghostly hands that were coming out of the ground.
"You want to take it alive? The quest needs us to kill it though, they want its body as proof" responded Rolanh.
"Go ahead, it's fine" Theli just walked past the creature, it tried to attack him but with the hands restraining it, it was just out of reach.
It seemed utterly focused on him as he headed for the cave, giving Rolanh a large window to prepare his strike, he rose his spear high and brought it down the second the beast turned to look at him, splitting its head in half.
Checking if it was truly dead, he then went after Theli to see what interested him so much.
"Oh good lord, now I see why" sighed Rolanh as he saw his party member craddling a cub of the beast in his arms.
Theli didn't pay attention to Rolanh as he thought for a second.
"You shall hereby be known as, Gevaudan!" he declared as he rubbed the little nose of the baby.