At almost the exact moment Tao Treyo saw the front door of his teammate's small, maroon, yet wooden home swing open from of the corner of his eye, a rush of excitement overcame him; though he tried his best to keep his joy contained. He has always hated the idea of constantly having death as a possible outcome when going out on their numerous contracts, but he absolutely adored their time together. He called it family bonding.
"I was beginning to think you both had forgotten we had a job to do," Tao tried to joke as Tashi and Neya made their way down their small path that guided them from their home. Tao was a shorter man in comparison to those he often was around, of about 5ft 3 inches, had beautiful green eyes, while sporting a short, black bowl-cut which gave him the false pretense of being a weakling; He, however, was one of the strongest healers inside the city of Koro, and possibly surrounding it.
He was leaning against their weathered, once-black, picket fence with his arms crossed in an attempt to appear cooler than he was; but inside he was anything but calm. "It's basic, but it pays," he added, continuing his mental persona, while straightening himself up to join them as they continued walking, not bothering to pause. Tao subconsciously skipped slightly to catch up.
The three had been a tremendously strong, solid team for several years, longer than any of them could remember, and the Suki children, especially Gairma, referred to Tao as Uncle. Gino felt it was uncool, and around 13 he had stopped referring to him as so.
The Suki's had needed a healer for a contract that was considered extremely dangerous, one that if they had went in with anything but a healer they would have died. Tao was the most expensive in his demand of the cut, but in the end they didn't regret it. Tao was family, and they were his. He didn't have children of his own, or a significant other. His parents had passed, and he was the only child. Tashi and Neya knew he was lonely, but he always denied it, despite hanging around longer than welcomed more often than not.
Not only had they become family, but they had worked so well together that they had each promised they would only team up with one another before seeking outside help if they were able.
"We were just saying goodbye, Tao," Neya informed him, attempting to hide her tearful tone.
"I'm only busting your lady-balls," he continued with a sly smirk, before turning to Tashi, who was more stone-faced in comparison, though he was enjoying the banter. "So these wolves are apparently in the Rocky Hills, just shy of the Mountain of Verne," he informed. The trio began walking towards the southern doors of the solid, towering barrier with a power to their stride. The Rocky Hills were only 20 miles away once freed from the city, though it would be a full day's trip and then some.
"Obviously," Tashi snarked, annoyed that Tao was trying to inform him of something he was already familiar with. "There's at least 8 of them, as well as a man by the name of Jora who was unfortunately killed by them." Tashi was the only one that had known about Jora as he was the leader, even hiding it from his wife.
Neya looked at him, confused, her eyebrows scrunched, wrinkling her forehead. He had never hid anything from her before.
"Oh?" Tao was intrigued. "What level? Fight style?" While depressing, it had been a few months since they had an opportunity to battle a rotted warrior, and Tao was excited.
Jora was dead, but it was the parasite in his heart that brought him back. He would no longer sound like the same man, act the same, look the same, and even his stats would be different than before. Though in the end, even with the mutations of the disease, he would still look human. It got easier the more a person is forced to kill the rotted ones, but there was always a slight feeling of sadness that lingered behind.
"The adventurers that were ran off by the wolves said Jora was a level 40, so a 50 now that he's Rotted, and he was the tank; Sacrificed himself so the rest of his team could get away."
"Damn," he replied solemnly. "His stats, then?"
"Really?" Tashi asked before letting out a loud sigh, "for a healer you've always struggled." Tao rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, before doing his math. They knew Jora luckily only used a green tiered sword, so there would only be one effect they would have to worry about. But base wise, even rotted, his attack would be of a living being, just the 10 extra levels a Rotted human gets.
"So, he does 161 damage per second, then, right?" Tao asked again, even though he knew he was right. He preferred the praise of the leader like a dog and its owner.
"Yes, but the effect is unknown. The adventurers didn't know him well," Tashi responded, his tone somber. He was hiding something more, but as comrades under a contract, they had to be professional.
"The wolves are all level 25, and since they're all Rotted, we're looking at 8 level 35's and 1 rotted human at level 50. It'll be a challenge with so many of them, but it shouldn't be too strenuous," Neya encouraged, but she had a small pain in the pit of her stomach that a bigger challenge was awaiting them than what was originally anticipated; Wolves already loved to attack in a pack, and paired with a human? Why did only Tashi know?
She had fallen behind by only a few steps when Tashi broke the news that there was a rotted person they were going to have to face. She couldn't help but feel slightly betrayed.