Kajal raised a brow at his description, his gaze meeting Hudson's. "Unconventional?"
"I would like you to capture monsters for me, alive," Hudson's clarified. He figured that it would be better to be upfront with his intentions given that they would be working together for a while. "These missions would mostly be in the Qahtani Desert at first, but I do intend to send you further abroad in the future."
Once I start making enough money to actually afford that…
A collective look of surprise passed among the Pathfinders, and it was Casper who excitedly broke the silence. "Capturing live monsters? That sounds amazing! Much more fun than the missions we usually take. Kajal, we have to accept this!"
Kajal glared lightly at Casper, who shrank back and offered a slight apology. It was clear to Hudson's that they had agreed to let Kajal do the negotiating.
"It is an interesting task, but whether or not we accept it depends on the nature of the beasts involved and the compensation," Kajal replied professionally.
"Absolutely, I understand that," Hudson's said with a nod. "Some of them will be dangerous, but they won't all necessarily be that way. I'll mostly be sending you to gather creatures with unique biological characteristics. As for compensation, that also won't be a problem. However, I have an additional proposal that I would like to present to you."
A flicker of caution entered Kajal's expression. "What kind of proposal?"
Here it goes…
Hudson's lifted his hand for the Pathfinders to see and quickly gave them the same demonstration of his flesh manipulating abilities that he had given the General. Scales grew along his palm as his fingers grew into claws.
"I am a [Cultist] who serves Cerebon, God of Flesh and Transformation," Hudson's said as the adventurers watched the spectacle with varying degrees of fascination and wariness. "My god has granted me the ability to manipulate biological material, which is why I wish to study the creatures that you bring me. It also means that I can offer my services to you all either as healing or for permanent augmentations to your bodies. I don't know much about your profession, but I do know that healing potions must be a sizable portion of your budget."
The Pathfinders seemed more than a little interested in his abilities. Hudson's knew that it would probably cut down a lot on the time they spent between missions recovering, and the physical augmentations weren't anything to scoff at either.
I really hope they accept…
Adventurers traveled far and wide, so Hudson's would eventually be able to spread news about Cerebon outside of Tal'Qamar if the Pathfinders managed to do well thanks to his assistance. This had the potential to open up a lot of options for him if he played his cards right.
After a few moments of quietly discussing among themselves, Kajal turned back to Hudson's with a suspicious expression. "What do you want for these services? Additional payments mean that you expect additional work."
"All I ask is that you assist me with a few matters in Tal'Qamar," Hudson's answered, careful to keep his tone casual. "I'm sure that you've heard about the political situation in the city, something that I've recently found myself involved in given that I now work for the government. You don't need to worry, I won't ask for anything that will get you in trouble with my bosses or be overly dangerous. You'll also be free to decline, although I would of course be forced to stop providing my services."
The offer that Hudson's gave was an extremely generous one, basically offering free healing until he needed them for something and even making it non-binding. Of course, Hudson's knew that they would be very reluctant to turn away his services once they experienced it for themselves and as his abilities grew more powerful.
Sure enough, the Pathfinders spoke amongst themselves for a while before Kajal once again turned to Hudson's. "Your proposals seem acceptable, though I need to see the exact details."
"Naturally, we can go over them now," Hudson's said with a smile.
The next hour was spent going over the exact details of their agreement and a sample of the creatures that Hudson's wanted them to acquire. He mostly started off with the weaker ones so as to not scare them off, but added a few that would be a decent challenge. The Pathfinders collectively decided that they would need to give it a lot more thought before they allowed him to change their bodies, but they seemed very interested in the healing. By the time they were done, Hudson's was convinced that he had gotten a good deal.
"Oh, there's one more thing that I'd like to ask," Hudson's said just as they finished their meeting and settled on a price for the missions. "If any of you are interested in becoming a worshiper of Cerebon, or if you know someone who might be interested, I think it could be a great help. [Cerebon's Boon] offers increased physical stats, slight regeneration, and it makes it easier for me to give you augmentations. Worship of Cerebon also doesn't require any overly difficult rituals."
Hudson's wished that he had [Devotion Perception] so that he could better target his sales pitches, but he didn't so he had decided to just start spreading the word of Cerebon whenever he could. Hudson's wasn't actually expecting any of them to be interested, and most of them weren't, but Casper actually paused to ask a question.
"What do Cerebon's worshipers need to do?" asked Casper, his eyes filled with curiosity. "That Boon seems really good, but I don't want to do anything crazy."
"Nothing much, just a little bit of ritualistic body modification and some prayer," Hudson's hurried to reassure, pushing back his hair and revealing his piercing filled ear. "The modifications could be anything that you want, so long as they're done in Cerebon's name."
Casper wore an expression of obvious interest until his dwarvish teammate began to pull him away. "Come on lad. Choosin' a god ain't somethin' you do without thinkin'. We can talk it over as a group."
Tilda glared at Hudson's suspiciously as if he was some kind of [Merchant] trying to scam an impressionable kid. Kajal seemed equally protective over their group's youngest member, but was too diplomatic to glare at him. "Thank you for your offer, but none of us are currently ready to convert. We can speak more about this once we've returned from our first mission."
Hudson's wasn't offended. He already had other plans for gathering members for his Cult.
After a short goodbye, the Pathfinders made their way out of the Adventurer's Guild to prepare for their first monster acquisition and Hudson's was once again alone with Rizok. His guard hadn't spoken at all during the negotiation, but Hudson's was quick to ask for his opinion of the adventurers once they were gone.
"Difficult to say, sir," Rizok said after a moment of thought. "The [Elemental Mage] and the [Beast Tamer] stayed mostly silent, but that was in deference to their leader. They seem to trust each other, which is essential for any squad. They also seem saner than most adventurers."
Hudson's had a similar impression. He would have to spend some effort to learn more about them, but that was a task for the future.
Now that he had hired his adventurer group and secured a path for him to continue improving his abilities, it was time to recruit some followers for his Cult. Hudson's had been considering how he would do so since the moment that he had become a [Cultist], and he had a few ideas.