Dark bags hung under the Holy Knight's eyes as he rose from his bed unable to find solace in the sleep he attempted to go through. His success with sleeping an entire night without waking in terror so far had proven for nought. Lifting off the spongy mattress, his feet touched the carpeted floor that covered the entire building he had taken residence in. The carpet itself was well maintained and nicely coloured to help contrast the painting that hung to the wall. Twisting his foes into the carpet, he made his way to the bathroom where he would perform some of his daily activities. First was a simple shower. Finishing he did a quick pat down drying his golden hair before he slinging a towel over his lower body and moving over to a sink where he had placed a nondescript bag, which held a variety of utensils removing all of them, he went to work. He was going to be shaving today, he hadn't for a number of days causing his face to appear rabid and that of a beast. Turning on the hot water, kon placed the shaving brush under it cleaning it and moistening it for today’s use whilst putting a block of soap into a mug, with the brush in one hand and mug in the other he went to work covering his face in a thick fluff in front of the mirror, Occasionally he would stop when applying it to certain areas and laugh otherwise he went about his business. Removing the razor blade he drew it down his his face in a precise cut starting from his sideburns and underneath his chin. After shaving for about 10 minutes still unaccustomed to shaving he left the bathroom with minor cuts to his face. Stroking his bare, smooth chin, he moved over to his backpack and withdrew a simple white button-up shirt and his regular over-coat, Donning this he collected his daily equipment in particular his gun, the Punisher which strongly resembled a cross and left the hotel after paying the hostess with his Shirshu companion waiting outside for him.

It had been many months since Konstantin had been to Baska town and fortunately, the weather seemed to be in his favour partly cloudy, barely any wind. The last time he had been there was with Adelaide, his new wife when they helped the local doctor stop a plague that was lingering over the town. Doing numerous tasks for him most recently getting the cure to a particularly nasty virus which Konstantin suspected had been leaked and was plaguing the Baskan community. This belief stemmed from Gerard having contacted him once more by letter informing him that the Cold Colliers had once more unleashed their plague. What for the letter did not say either because Gerard didn’t know or he feared that the letter might have been tracked, regardless of the circumstances, however, Konstantin was forced to help his former client knowing that the plague could easily spread further if not stopped given its ability to spread through the waterways so easily. He had first received the letter in Orchidia having been looking after his and Adelaide’s children, had become parents and partners recently, however knowing the danger involved with such a request, he opted to leave them at their estate along with Adelaide whom he gave a quick kiss and a promise to return promptly. Travelling to the town was relatively peaceful riding on top of his Shirshu, a blind mole-rat, except for the occasional traveller who was coming from the town itself who recommended that he turned tail and leave, but Kon refused all the same knowing that if he didn’t fix it no-one else would, at least not quickly.

626/4000

Continuing to lead his mount along the dirt road towards the town itself, something very wrong started to become clear all too quickly. Nasty screams of pain and groans of anger bellowed out from where the town was located, concerned about the commotion Kon double-stepped his Shirshu’s stride into a canter while withdrawing his punisher from the side hostler of the saddle. He drew up his gun as he began to approach the outskirts of the town, with a familiar voice shouting out to him from afar, it was none other than Gerard while an otherwise fond reunion it quickly became apparently that he was not overly looking for him as a friend but someone who could protect him, with two townspeople dressed in tattered and bloody garb while their mouths were blooded and nails equally stained in blood, chasing towards the two of them. While he would have normally just put them down sensing they were gone too far Gerard stopped him standing in front of them. “No, Don’t they don’t know what they are doing, just disable them while we deal with the real problem.” And so with a sigh Kon looked at the two feral villagers and shot them in the knee-cap. With the infected now unable to move, he began to tend to them while he began to speak with him about the situation as Konstantin slipped off from his saddle to meet with Doctor Gerard eye to eye. “So as you know the Cold Colliers were operating here, they however have not stopped” Shaking his head as he looked at the wounds that the gun shot had inflicted on the infected he continued. “Despite your efforts the gang has continued to operate and even poured more poison into the water, hence why these two are feral.”

Gerard went further onto explain that the entire town was like this with everyone trying to kill everyone else. Having known about the plague for some time, Gerard made sure that he didn't drink any contaminated water, which makes the two of you the only sane people in all of Baska.
Confused about this is, Konstantin questioned the doctor as to why he didn’t tell everyone else to stop drinking from the wells. “Boy, don’t you think I tried that?!, they just called me a coot and went on with their business expect of course when they got a cut, scrap or flu…” Finishing while shaking his head. “Now, this is going to be a complicated process, but I need to you heal everyone within the entire town at once, I’ve got a concentrated version of the cure, here.” Gerard remarked as he past a non-descript vial filled with a glowing green liquid. “Don’t think about drinking it, consuming it in that concentration will kill you.” Slipping the vial into his overcoat, he continued to listen to Gerard who revealed that the antidote must be released into the air so that everyone in the town is given the antidote. So in addition to giving him the vial, Gerard withdrew a rolled up map of the town where he drew locations where Kon would have to go, along with the map, he also handed over three explosive charges. “Each of these locations I’ll need you to put one of these explosive charges put some of the vial in it.”

Mana: 4250/4400

Spells:

1185/4000

“Now go before this spreads further…” Knowing that his shirshu would be in the way Konstantin left his mount to look after his client. “Sure, Gerard, before we go however if things get too hairy I’d like you to hop on my Shirshu over here and get out of town, I’ll organise something for myself.” “What do you mean too hairy?” The doctor replied with morbid curiosity. “Let’s hope you don’t find out.” Kon remarked as the way to the first of his destinations. He would first head to the eastern side of Baska town, the town itself was devastated with the walls being coated in muck while windows were broken in and doors were off their hinges and lying on the ground inside their buildings. This level of destruction was something he had only really since in major conflicts such as when Grimoire Heart attacked Crocus, “regular people could do this?” He thought to himself as he continued on paying extra attention to avoid being detected by the occasional feral that patrolled the streets. After the third time of almost being caught however, he opted to simply dash across the rooftops of the houses rather than risk his hide out in the open. Before reaching the first destination with Gerard following up from behind, Kon scouted the area with his millenium to check for any extremely powerful villagers which were not the case fortunately enough. There were still however two blokes lingering around where the first charge needed to go. The doctor in all his wisdom decided to point them out in a not so subtle manner by shouting at Kon from below. “Hey you might need to deal with them!” Just as he finished the two began to chase towards him. Rolling his one good eye, he shifted his attention completely to the villagers shaking at the doctor. “Tell the rest of the town next time, Gerard…” Kon said under his breath.

Fortunately however he didn’t need to shoot with his shirshu taking the responsibility and slamming the two onto a nearby wall making audible cracks which seemed awfully like bones breaking. Unconcerned about the wellbeing of the villagers and only worried about the greater good, Kon pulled Gerard off the infected and towards the charge location. “Come doctor triage…” He said mocking the doctor’s profession needing to remind him that the entire town was infected. Nodding in response to exhausted to respond, the man drew up to the location and began to work on the charge taking a surprisingly long time before he spoke to Kon once more after he realised he had handed the vial over to him for the sake of safety. “Here take it” He barked as Kon continued to scan the area for any more frenzied villagers. So far they had been pretty lucky but he didn’t know how long their luck would last nor did he want to test it.
Charge now filled with the cure, the doctor stuck it to a nearby statue which celebrated a famous and powerful knight that hailed from Baska town who later joined the Holy Knights to crusade against the Darkness, specifically the Demons that hoped to start a new era of darkness. “Perhaps I can learn something from them.” Kon wondered as he watched the doctor paste the statue onto the statue’s back. “Are you sure that the charge will stay in place?” Gerard didn’t seem to notice the question at first causing Kon to repeat his question. “Are you sure that the charge will hold?” “What?, What?, Yes..” Somewhat distracted the doctor pulled at his clothes before continuing on with the request. “Come we have two more to go.”

Mana: 4250/4400

1800/4000

The next one was all across the other side of town to the west, obviously he wanted to get all of the town but this was really dangerous with them having to pass through the entire town even if they were going around the center of town, there were still countless eyes of the frenzied people lingering in the shadows. While he did have immediate access to his magic, he didn’t want to cause too much chaos or damage as the reconstruction process would already be timely and costly if his summons where to get involved then the costs would increase in the 10s of magnitudes. Fortunately his Punisher and Shirshu would likely be enough if the numbers weren’t too large, though it was an entire town that they were dealing with. Reaching their next destination was relatively uneventful albeit rather slow with them having to wait for a herd to pass through he was surprised that they didn’t get swarmed at one point, yet there they were just about to get to the next spot, they were once again attacked by two more townspeople. Not wanting to bring any harm to his companion, client nor waste a shot, Kon smashed the two of them in the head sending one to the left and one to the right respectively as he swung first one way then the other as each drew closer. The results were less than appealing with several teeth being lost from the blows while a streak of blood was created from each of the townspeople’s noses as they skirted against the ground away from them. “Was that really necessary?” The doctor asked as he watched the violent blows from behind a wagon. “The infected would tear either one of us a part if they could it’s better that they loses a few teeth instead of us being vivisection.” Opening and closing his mouth a few times as if to find a response to his comment, the doctor resigned to the comment and went to work on the second charge. This second charge took substantially less time to complete with him now having a firm understanding of how the charge worked. The location was slightly higher than the first charge with it being upon of a belltower to a church of the Illumin faith. Because of the required location this meant that Kon would have to go inside the building which was likely filled with townspeople who hoped to find sanctuary in the chapel. Wanting to reconfirm that he had heard the doctor correctly Konstantin repeated the doctor’s words. “You want to the charge put on the top of the church….?” Nodding while grimacing he looked at Kon with a I wish it weren't so face. “Well I guess I can do it this way.” With the church being fairly out in the open with a graveyard occupying most of one side, Kon was able to draw up and summon one of his summons his largest in fact.

Mana: 4250/4400

2300/4000

Knowing what needed to be done, Kon gingerly told the Doctor to hand over the charge to the angel. “This is going to sound strange doctor but I need you to hand that charge over to that angel he will take things from there.” Looking at the angel oddly, Gerard handed over the box to the floating being who then proceeded to float up and place the charge all the way up onto the peak of the cross. “I think that’s high enough don’t you?” Kon said bluntly. “Now the Seraphiel is out so I’m just going to leave him flying around above us try and ignore him he shouldn’t attract too much attraction to the infected.” Two down, one to go and this one would be the hardest right in the middle of town where most of the population has congregated for what reason Gerard didn’t know. All he knew was placing this charge would be the hardest while also require him to set it up there on the spot. Which was just great… The walk to the center of town was chilling and even disturbing the scum that had covered the walls had now been replaced with blood and organs while torn-open bodies littered the corners of the streets. “Gerard what happened here?” Nothing was heard from the doctor as he continued to walk onward. Needing to know what was going on, Kon stopped the doctor dead in his tracks pinning him to one of the bloodsoaked walls. “Gerard tell me what happened?” With an deep gulp, Gerard lost his composure. “The plague got worse once you left, they went worse than rabid they’ve gotten cannibalistic, I saw a mother eating her own daughter, Kon….” Unable to keep up a cheery facade he looked at one of the decomposing bodies behind Konstantin’s back and vomited all down his coat. This unexpected response caused Kon to double-back as chunks landed on his shirt and coat while a pool of vomit formed on his left shoe. “Uggh” He remarked as he quickly tried to flick off the vomit that had gotten onto him. “I’m sorry, I just haven’t had anyone to talk to…” “It’s okay we’ll get you some help once this is all over the Rune Knights will hopefully be able to resolve this matter as a collective, I alone, won’t be able to fix all of this.” After wiping off as much vomit that the both could get off, they continued to walk deeper and deeper into the hellish nightmare that Baska town had become. Rather than continuing onward straight to the center of town, they stopped at a corner to do another quick scouting of the area with Seraphiel doing some aerial recon of its own. So far there wasn’t anyone in sight which was good at least that’s what they thought as they began to rush towards the pillar that represented the center of tower now adorned by the bloody skulls and mangled spines of townspeople.

Mana: 4050/4400

Spells:

2801/4000

Honestly Kon didn’t like the outcome of what will happen to these people, the best outcome will be that these people will need major psychotherapy worst permanent mental trauma. Dashing towards the Pillar, Gerard got began to prepare the much larger and more time consuming charge. Just as he had begun his work at least half a dozen villagers came out from various buildings around the pillar obviously alerted by their presence either from them making so much noise or just their simple appearance. Not wanting the doctor to stop doing his work, Konstantin drew up his cross and pointed at his first target, a bulky man who he thought he had met once before, he was wearing what looked like had been a butcher’s outfit wasting no time to recall whom he was Kon shot him in the leg just has he done with the previous two though this gentlemen kept going requiring him to put an additional 3 shots into him before he’d go down with a loud groan. All while that was done 5 others were roaring towards them fortunately one of them was flattened by Shirshu just as two others had done just prior while another was sent into a cart holding jewelry by Seraphiel using its mace. Three more remained however with them drawing around them in a semi-circle nibbling at Kon as he stuck them back with the long end of his cross. Things were certainly getting dicey for them however with Shirshu having dealt with his opponent he was able to dash into the trio that were grouping up to jump Gerard and Konstantin, causing the frenzied townspeople to bowl over into a pile while they bit and clawed at his mount with reckless regard to their own welfare. “By Illumin, this is what the stuff does to people?” Before anymore self-inflicted harm could occur Gerard was able to finish the detonator before handing off the activator to Konstantin.

Surprised that he was going to be the one to activate it given that Gerard was the doctor of Baska town, he looked at him before asking him. “Are you sure you want me to do it, wouldn’t you prefer to be the one doing it?” “No you should be the one.” The tone was ominous for something that was truly worth celebrating. Slamming the button down hard, three explosions could be heard first obviously this one in the center then the other two in the east and west respectively. The sudden noise seemed to have awaken the infected townspeople with many of them now groaning, roaring and even moaning, before moments later whimpering, crying and shouting out for loved ones. “So it’s done then?” Kon said as many of the townspeople including the one he had just shot began to come over back from insanity. “Yes, the infection has stopped for now at least hopefully the cold colliers are caught and put behind bars for good soon enough.” Kon hoped so just as much with him being heavily concerned with the powerful effects of just a simple virus could have on a community. What if this were to hit the capital city of Crocus or even the Cathedral of Illumin directly, if anything we’ve been fortunate that something like this was revealed to us at such a low density and weak town.


3750/4400

Spells Sustainied:

3359/4000

With the mission now complete all that was left to do was the tidy up work which Kon had neither signed up for nor was he going to get paid for so rather than hanging around and being thrust a shovel to pick up the dead bodies that were starting to rot as he stood there, He promptly began his good-bye to Gerard. “Well it’s been a complicated experience between the two of us, eh, Gerard?” Looking puzzled the doctor retorted. “Oh you’re not staying?” Shaking his head, Kon responded. “Can’t stay got things to look after now if you’d be so kind to give me my reward I’ll be on my way.” His jaw figuratively and quite literally dropped as he heard his response not realising that he was here just to get paid rather than out of the generosity of his heart. Understanding where the man was coming from however the doctor withdrew a large bundle of jewels and handed it over to the Holy Knight. “There, the money I owe you for the work you’ve done here today.” Nabbing the bundle he did a quick tally before tying it up onto his mount’s saddle. “Thank you for the reward it will be used for solely good intentions.”

With him now once more having money, Kon withdrew from Baska town where he hoped he’d be able to find a tarven or bed and breakfast that had not been affected by the plague in the outskirts of town. Fortunately it was easy to tell whether or not an area was affected by the lack of blood smeared across the buildings while identifying buildings was the easy part finding ones that weren’t marked proved to be the hard part. Many of the Buildings that were unmarked had been ransacked obviously by the Cold Collier Gang, which forced him to head further back towards Orchidia town riding his Shirshu for well over two hours. He didn’t intend to head back to his new hometown just yet however as he still had plans in Baska town merely he needed a place to stay that was close to the town without risking having a corpse thrown in front of his face.

The hostess there had been more than accommodating after he revealed that he had just come from Baska town and had gotten rid of the plague that was lingering over the towns. Surprisingly there were numerous members of the town that were staying there to escape the devastating effects of the plague who rushed Konstantin full of questions primarily whether their love ones were still available, how was it and every question first responders are questioned about. Rather than repeating himself over and over to each person then came to see him, he rose up with his mug of ale in one hand and spoke to the entire group within the building. “Today I went to Baska town to help Gerard the town’s doctor to rid the town of the plague that it had been under for the last few months, I can not answer any questions about your loved ones, Baska town at the moment is in a state of ruins and will take months to repair if you must go I recommend leaving behind your elderly and young children as what you will experience there is not something appropriate for children to be seeing.”

In spite of his comments about not knowing the wellbeing of the townspeople many still questioned him about their families shouting names and shoving photos in his face trying to get answers. “I don’t know, please leave me alone.” Wanting some peace Kon called for the hostess to have his meal sent to his room before leaving the main lobby and heading there himself. He wasn’t expecting today to have been such an emotional draining one with him practially passing out as soon as he reached the inside of his room only managing to close the door and get to his bed before collapsing completely.

4000+/4000