darkwood's Bounty (lamb x reader)

Certainly a start

You wake up, it's 4 in the morning, nightmares of your tribe of merchants being burnt to ashes by Leshy's followers still plague your mind.

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The only reason you're alive is because you were out hunting in the middle of a celebration, you planned to bring quality meat for the nighttime feast. While you did manage to gather quality food, once your tribe came into view.....

All you could smell was ash

Tents had been looted, corpses riddled the grass, many were missing body parts, others were just gone.

You blame yourself for leaving, you were the tribe's top hunter, you could have done something

anything!

You mourned their deaths and buried what was left for the next few days, you took what was left and vowed to avenge their deaths
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With guilt still stirring in your guts you get up, brush your teeth, hunt, eat, and continued on your travels, it had already been years since the fire

Your home and shop is a decently sized merchant cart adorned with your signature colors: blue, red, and yellow, with a green undershirt and puffy pants
These also being the colors of your robes



The cart was decorated with the things you sell, originally you only sold leathers and meats, but with the passing of time you decided to broaden your selection of wares.

In your travels through the lands of the old faith you took up leather working, cooking, sewing, knitting, pottery, handicrafts, and woodworking.

Anything you made was up for sell, but that wasn't the only reason you learnt all of that.

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Taking revenge upon a bishop without a crown of your own was but a death wish, so you started looking for alternatives.

In your travels you met three peculiar figures that held the answer you seeked

Clauneck, the tarot reader, showed you two cards, the magician, telling you that the power you seek is in the effort you're willing to give and using what you have. And the wheel, stating that your fate is not set in stone and doesn't have a clear answer

Kudaai, the weapon smith, gifted you two daggers, one with the ability to inflict blight named cruelty and the other with the ability to make a god bleed called mercy. He told you that these weapons wouldn't be able to kill a god alone

And Chemach, the relic maker, actually gave you the clearest answer, witchcraft.

She had taken this path before and provided you with a map to her old study and warned you of the mere requirements for learning her craft.
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You now stood at the bottom of the old tower, prepared to face whatever horrors lie within.

But you couldn't just leave your shop unattended so you put up a sign that read "out for lunch".

With everything settled you head inside, a long, tall spiral staircase is all that greeted you. Each step was padded by an old dusty and torn carpet, the stone that made them seemed to crack with every sudden movement, the fact that the walls of the tower had partially withered and gave way to the chilling cold air of the night wasn't helping your nerves either, but at the very least the cracks in the walls provided enough light for the steps to remain visible.

You almost fell of a number of times, be it due to high winds the higher you got or the steps crumbling beneath you. As you got higher strange fleshy winged beings started to attack you, Chemach apparently failed to mention her security measures, thankfully you have the musket you use for hunting, not to mention your duel flintlock pistols.

By the time you made it to the top of the tower you were tired and out of ammo, but it was worth it.

Infront of you an entire wall of books that held the knowledge you seeked stood tall, your goal was to obtain the power you need to kill Leshy, and this was certainly a start.

You grab a few books that seem like a good starting point and search for a place to sit and rest.

There is a small table decorated with candles and littered with scrolls.

You throw the scrolls to the ground and light a few candles. Before you know it you're submersed into these books, these telling you all about ancient arts, religious rituals, different beliefs and magics. After reading through most of the books you grabbed, the sun comes rearing it's head, you wonder how long you had been reading.

After picking up the rest of the books and scrolls in the study, you head back down to your cart, the walls now stained red with the battles of last night. You'll need to make more ammo.

Once you make your way back to your cart you notice a very peculiar figure waiting for you to arrive. A lamb stood Infront of your cart, they seemed curious yet cautious, their expression was somber at best, dried tears decorated the sides of their face

You stopped in your tracks, they hadn't noticed you just yet, your heart dropped as you recalled something you wanted to keep buried in the memory of the incident that had been burned into your mind
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A few years prior to the incident, you and your tribe stumbled upon a family that seemed to be running from something, a father and his two kids, a girl with a look of horror that was being essentially dragged by her father, and a boy who's eyes expressed no emotion.

The father quickly explained that they were being hunted by cultist serving the bishops of the old faith, your tribe took the in without a second thought. in the years that followed you did got to know them on a more personal level, they brought life to your celebrations, the one you knew the most was the father, he was joyful and very emotional, he told you all about himself, even about his recently deceased wife, both of you slowly started to get closer. You both loved every second you spent together...

Yet it didn't last

The cultist eventually found them

And took your tribe with them

Damned lamb....

I couldn't stay mad at you...

You don't know how much I missed you

Lev...
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Word counter: 1059
I FINALLY PUBLISHED SOMETHING!!!

While this is my first published story (hope you enjoyed),
I thought it best to upload something like this before I post my main story

I've been working on an original story that's been through way too many rewrites and too much procrastination, the first five chapters should be uploaded in bulk and within the month and boy am I excited
Your outfit will also probably change as the story progresses,

The cover is most likely not final,