"Give me three guys with shotties and some bacon on the pad for 15 minutes. I'll sweep it for ya." He said over the phone.

"You get initiated and now you think you're a capo?" His boss mocked him. "I should smack you, mouthy kid. Asking for soldiers..."

He impatiently switched the payphone horn to the other side of his ear. "Well then you send somebody. This is your bottom line we're talking about."

The boss gave an angry huff. "Watch your tone, bagman. You may be an earner, but in this syndicate it's about respect. You have a problem you tell me about it, I'll decide who needs killing or not."

"There's twenty methed up junkies sitting on a cathouse. There's been no paying customers for weeks. What does it take to bag these ingrates? Cause the books are going red."

"And I'm telling you to write it off. It's over. You'd understand if-" He hung up.

"What's the verdict?" His partner in crime asked.

"They're telling us to choke on it." He spat. "That's what being a mob earner will get you these days. Leeches."

"You're telling me bigshot capone is afraid of the tweaking twink in the attic?" She gestured at the apartment building opposite. It had been an underworld brothel until recently, when it had been taken over by delinquents with guns, a group of addicts that had enjoyed themselves too much to leave and now found that nobody was making them.

She was referring to their leader. A skinny guy covered in tattoos and piercings, he had the composure and coordination of a toddler and hardly seemed like a threat to anyone.

"Not him, his family. Bastards won't even give me the skinny on it, but I know the truth. Guy's uncle is an underboss upstate, rival syndicate."

She whistled. "I see. So it's to avoid a gang war. I guess that's the right call."

"Right call my ass." He sat down on the curb. "What's the point of soldiers if you won't defend your territory? Upstate is slicing off a piece the territory, our piece, and they do nothing."

She scratch her head. "So... we're wasting them right?"

"Who?"

"The don. And the others."

He looked at her seriously. "Usually, saying that gets you a free vacation to the bottom of the canal."

"It's only you and me here."

He sighed. "What we do is set up our own skims, take away business from the family, and protect them with our insider knowledge, right?"

"Uh-huh. But that's just a grift." She said. "I mean, take over."

"We need more friends for that." He answered. "Anyway, that's long term. It doesn't fix our methhead problem."

Inside the apartment a glass bottle was shattered and someone screamed.

"Would upstate really start a war over this twerp?" She asked.

"That's the problem with family businesses," he croaked, "they're completely irrational. I guess when it's your own kids out there you lose the ability to make a risk/reward balance."

She shrugged and sat down next to him. "You don't have a family left do you?"

"Nah, don't see the benefit, you?" He handed her a cigarette.

She was slightly indignant. "Not anymore."

They sat there smoking on the curb for a good half hour.

"I wouldn't want them in this life." She eventually blurted out.

"What?"

"I'm saying all these gangsters are getting their brothers and sisters cushy mob jobs. I wouldn't. I wouldn't want them to be part of it."

He nodded understandingly. "Tangled loyalties. I get that."

She shook her head. "Too dangerous."

"Hhm."

"You did WHAT!?" Captain Harkness fumed.

"We were tricked." James Rochast stated while avoiding eye contact.

Their superior pointed his finger at each of them. "You ordered the men to abandon the critical objective. You failed to protect it, and to punish the attackers. There is no excuse."

"But-"

"No. Excuse. You're off the advance squad."

"What!?"

"Both of you are. I'm keeping you here while-"

A loud bang from the conference room door slamming open interrupted the lecture.

The captain turned around angrily. "What is it? This better be important."

A teenager stood in the doorway, shaking in his shoes from the man's authority. "S-sir. Enemy troops have been spotted. Sir."

"What are you talking about? There are no enemy troops, we're here to kill goblins."

The boy didn't have a response to that. "Excuse me... uhm..."

"We better go take a look." James initiated and lead the way out of the chamber.

-

From ground level only the smoke plumes were visible, but from up in the watchtower they could see a true war camp.

Tents, horses, wagons of supplies and racks of weapons. They were primitive but nothing was missing to make this a professional army.

"They're collapsing their manpower and taking formation," the captain grinded his teeth, "Lydia has collected a goblin army."

"We'll raid them in the night!" James Rochast clenched his fist in determination. "Five knights on horses can burn down the whole camp while they sleep."

Captain Harkness violently drove his elbow into the younger knight's nose.

Both Rochasts cried out in shock. "Ah! Why?"

"First of all, goblins are nocturnal, they can see better in the darkness than we can, so your raid is unfeasible to begin with. Second of all, they're preparing their advance right now. Lydia is determined to wring out that advantage. And thirdly," He huffed angrily, "you two are off the advance squad. You'll be staying in the back while we engage."

James was clutching his bloody nose. "That's bull, Fiona, do you-"

"You told me you weren't here for revenge." She admonished him angrily, helping him to his feet.

"I'm not!"

The captain didn't turn to look at them. "Go get some healing for that. I don't want to see you two until after the battle."

They drooped off. "We got away lightly," Fiona said, "considering..."

"Considering?" James disagreed. "It's a humiliation. A real man fights on the front lines."

The goblins had a few hours of downtime to sit down, massage their feet, and eat something.

While they were recuperating from the long march the humans poured out of their half-build fortress and took formation.

Eventually Scratch whistled on two fingers for the goblins to make ready.

The heavy infantry changed into their steel harnesses, the bandits mounted their horses, and the wolf riders gathered behind the front line.

"Remember!" Lydia Harkness shouted over the clanging of metal. "Keep formation, stay in line!"

As such they advanced, the armored troops in front, the mounted and light footsoldiers just behind.

-

They crossed the uneven rolling hills to see the humans do the same.

Two armies, marching steadily towards each other.

An impossibly loud voice boomed over the battlefield. "Left-guard advance! Middle squadron, phalanx formation!"

"What is that?" Scratch asked shocked.

Harkness answered. "The human commander is using war magic to project his voice, in order to lead from the back."

And sure enough, the middle squadron of humans took a V-shape after the voice had spoken.

"Your father, isn't he?" Scratch asked.

She kept silent.

"I wish I could do that." He pouted.

"We'll just have to lead from the front." She said decisively. "Take the ranged fighters and harass their armored troops, that'll force them to come to us."

"...Sure." Scratch scratched and whispered to his wolf what he needed from her and they turned to gather sling users and bowmen.

-

Not long after the shield of the goblins parted to let through a deluge of eager tribe goblins. Led by warg riders.

A rain of pebbles and arrows battered onto the humans' heads, weighted down by nothing the goblins could evade their magical and non-magical effects completely. Advancing in formation the humans were a lot slower. Quite a few of the knights fell down, too gravely injured to continue fighting.

The humans' own light infantry was not ordered to like-wise come out for a more symmetrical skirmish, the wargs danced so deftly through the battlefield that skirmishers of their skill level were hopelessly outmatched, and their leader knew it. Instead, they did something else.

The voice boomed again. "Equestrians give chase!"

"Back!" Scratch screamed "Back! Back behind the shield wall!"

But most goblins were too focused on their touch-and-go game with the knights to pay attention.

Humans on horseback burst forth from their ranks. The front among them was the source of the commands, captain

Harkness, leading the cavalry to chase off the goblin light infantry.

He was an aged and grey man, but his composure and skill with a lance was far beyond that of the young recruits surrounding him. He struck an imposing figure.

It took the human horseback riders storming past their comrades and trampling a good number of the goblins for them to understand the gravity of the situation and retreat.

The cavalry chased the goblins, shooting and spearing them left and right, until they collided with the wall of steel.

The knights tried to trample them, but the powerful metal and mass of spears staggered the horses. They fell down and were forced to turn around and flee.

"Steel!" One called out. "It's steel!"

-

"It's just like she said..." Scratch commented to himself after witnessing this back and forth.

He had only just in time retreated behind the shield wall and saw the horses rebuked.

"Quite a spectacle, isn't it?" You There grinned next to him. "The light infantry can punish the heavy infantry, the cavalry can chase the light cavalry, and the heavy infantry can overwhelm the cavalry. How balanced! Then, come to think of it, if it were not so, then one type of unit would be optimal, and all an army would ever field, no?"

Scratch grunted. "I don't want balance. Tell us how we can win."

"Aha! Master, how right you are, victory is the goal. You must forgive me, as a demon, my first thought is with prolonging suffering, and causing death."

Scratch looked at him from the side, slightly annoyed.

"I'll tell you now," the demon continued, "the deciding moment in the battle is when the two shield walls clash. The side that breaks formation loses, when their formation is gone the cavalry can pour into their occupied space and wreak havoc. Killing fleeing infantry of all sorts!"

"Hhm..." The goblin assessed the situation. The knights were supposedly inexperienced trainees, but surely, each one could overpower a goblin by himself. Strength in numbers could compensate for that, but strengthening any point in the line this way would require pulling away troops from other places and weakening it there.

"I do believe you will be pleasantly surprised by the result." The demon grinned from under his eye-obscuring hairdo.

Just minutes later the shield walls clashed.

You There was right, to Scratch great surprise the knights crashed into the goblins and broke apart like water on a rock.

"Go go!" He yelled out at the bandits and warg riders, not expecting to have to act so quickly on opportunity.

His voiced reached nowhere near far enough, but they figured it out themselves after a few seconds and chased after the knights that had separated from the rest.

Scratch and Wendy were the first to enter into enemy territory, flying like wind over the heads of combatants to spear fleeing men in the neck and bite at their ankles.

While the goblin cavalry had a ball tearing up the knights at their back the powerful voice of the human captain boomed over the battlefield again.

"Middle Squadron, turtle formation! Left and Right, withdraw! Cavalry, advance!"

Efficiently, with perfect mass coordination, the troops responded to their broken shield walls by separating into multiple smaller ones.

"I hate that guy." Scratch muttered to himself. If the knights didn't have such a direct line of command the battle would already have been won.

Still, it was unbelievable how quickly they'd been able to break through.

"The relentless throng!" You There jubilated while catching up to Scratch in the middle of the affray. "I do believe you trust its power now."

"What are you talking about?"

"Morale, master! Strength is important but morale is vital! Goblins do not lose their nerve and can hold formation until death, while humans must fight their survival instincts and must turn to flee! It has been a hundred years since this world has seen this power, your enemies most likely underestimated our strength."

"Good, let's carry that momentum to the finish line."

The demon nodded.

Right then the human horseback riders came to chase them away, covering for the retreating light infantry.

Scratch tried to yell at the other horse riders to withdraw, but they were too spread again to hear him. It was not that big of a concern, since the wolves could easily outmaneuver horses.

-

The two sides consolidated again and split the battlefield into two, this time the goblin army had taken up a great deal more space.

A few more pushes like that and the knights would be forced to retreat into the fort.

The smaller shield walls the humans had formed were holding out for longer than the previous one.

They were in turtle formation, forming a circle and facing their weapons outwards towards the deluge of attackers.

Goblins upon goblins bashed themselves upon the box, getting mowed down by the dozens. They gave their lives just to chip away at their enemies' stamina and footing.

They were making progress, but the numbers were dwindling quickly.

"Agh! What are they doing?" Scratch complained.

You There licked his lips. "This is the fury of the relentless throng, master. You must know already that this is how goblins fight."

"Not my goblins." Scratch guided Wendy to meet up with Lydia Harkness.

-

"Make them stop, this is a meat grinder." He demanded.

She looked down from high upon her horse. "You're right, they should not have to die like this."

"Good, because-"

"We should be their shield!" She looked over to the other horseback riders. "Felix, Jasper! Follow me, we're breaking through."

"What? No!" Scratch pulled his hair as he watch her take his children to the most dangerous part of the front lines.

"Haha. That's the knightly chivalry for you," the demon purred, "can not have conscripts die before her."

"Help me fix this," Scratch demanded, "help me control her. That's what I keep you around for isn't it?"

"Regrettably, master, the art of manipulation does not come with magic phrases. It takes time. Rather, I think we should endeavor to diminish the strength of the enemy."

"... What?"

You There pointed his tiny finger at the central turtle formation. "These men fight with the courage of the desperate.

Their morale is high and their formation is strong because they have nowhere to run. Did I not tell you that warfare is the art of deception? In the past you have feigned strength were you were weak, not it is time to feign weakness where you are strong."

"You mean to create an opening in the throng?"

"Precisely. They must be tricked into fleeing. Call it an 'opening in the dam'. Most surely, they will flow out like water."

Scratch shook his head. "That's preposterous. They know that fleeing here would mean getting chased down, compared to their chances staying in formation that's an easy trade-off to calculate."

You There's frown couldn't be seen under his bowl cut, but his mouth moved to the side. "I assure you that these men do not calculate. More to the point, do you have the time to debate my advice? Just listen."

Jasper was screaming in pain from some sort of battle injury, the other fighters were roaring in a desperate sort of rage. It was clear that they were sacrificing themselves for the cause.

"Damnit." The goblin patriarch cursed. "Wendy, take me to the other side."

-

In the blink of an eye and with the speed of the wind the wolf encircled the turtle formation.

It was a gulley in the rolling hills, a lower point where the human horseback riders couldn't easily descent to aid their comrades and the goblins were blocking in the heavy infantry from rejoining them to the human controlled space.

"Circle back!" He called out to the goblins, but they didn't hear him. Wolf and goblin descended low enough to touch the fighters' shoulders and speak to them. "Circle back." He demanded again. "Your lives are too precious to spend on holding this line, go join your brothers in the rear."

He had to say it a few times for them to get the message and the line started to thin out. Until he felt the need to leave himself, from the sheer amount of swords unoccupied with other foes.

"Screw it, I'm running for it!" Just as You There had said, given a chance to flee the claustrophobic turtle formation the humans did so immediately. They dropped their shields and weapons and started sprinting.

Feeling their backrows disappear behind them the others turned to flee as well, and soon the entire turtle formation deflated like a balloon.

The wolf riders were now free to chase them down, killing many before the human cavalry even had the time to react.

Again the goblin shield wall pushed forward and won new terrain. The humans were fighting practically in front of their fort's gate now.

Over the cours of the battle the sun had gone down. The humans were using a combination of torches and light magic to illuminate themselves and their stronghold.

The army fort was a tall wooden structure, its shape reminiscent of that of a true castle. It had watchtowers on the corners, a wall with archers and crenelations and a large fortified gate.

It wasn't completely finished, scaffolding and naked frameworks broke up the mighty facade of the structure.

It was impossible for the goblin army to close in comfortably on the fortress. The archers up high had easy pickings on the masses below, and the ranged weapons from the goblins had trouble reaching their height.

Scratch made sure to expressly forbid his troops from incurring onto the snipers' range.

Because of this a stalemate developed, the goblins were kept out and the knight army was kept in.

It went on for a while with a few half-hearted attempts by the humans to move around the goblins or focus their strength on a single point in the line, each time they were rebuked and had to withdraw close to the fort.

-

Scratch went to meet with Harkness and the other bandits to discuss their strategy.

"How's Jasper?" He asked first.

"With Stanford," she answered, "he's being healed."

"Have we succesfully laid siege now?" He then wanted to know.

"In a while they'll have to retreat into the fortress," Harkness answered, "then we can dig into our position and create barricades they cannot break even with their strength renewed."

"Ha, this is nostalgic." Aimone claimed. "Remember, Audace? We two were soldiers in the time of the defense war, sieging fortresses of yours, just like this one."

"Of who?" Huckabee asked confused. "Us?"

"Of royalists...." Audace hissed out in a long deliberate tone.

"Mannagia. Am I happy not to be a frontliner this time. Every day soldiers die, and nessuno knows when the siege will end."

"It can end sooner if we capture the enemy commander." Harkness mulled. "Without their leadership they'll collapse."

"Eh? The old guy on the horse?" Huckabee asked. "Can't do it, right? I mean, the archers."

"We can do it," Scratch answered, "but not by ourselves. We need his cooperation."

Aimone scoffed. "What are you talking about you st-"

Harkness interrupted him. "You have another plan, Scratch?"

"What do you call a plan? If we feign weakness at the a point in the line, the enemy will try to break through there. He might lead the charge himself."

"No he definitely would." She confirmed. "That's our plan then, we'll lure out their captain and take him down."

"It's already so dark." Huckabee mentioned. "Will they even dare ride out where they can't see?"

"If there's one thing the Harkness' specialize in it's dealing in the darkness." She said. "We're an assassin branch after all."

-

Working together with the experienced warriors the goblins engineered a ruse.

The shield wall was supposed to open up when the enemy came to harass them. Multiple heavy infantry goblins wouls stap aside like a door entrance and let the cavalry ride through.

It took some time before the opportunity to enact the trap presented itself. The idleness of the current stationary position had the goblins losing discipline and distract themselves with childish games. One had been foolish enough to take off his helm and payed for it with a nasty arrow taking off his nose.

The enemy had arrived to test the defenses. Quickly the line opened up, laying out the bait for the enemy to take.

"There! Advance cavalry, break through!" The magically enhanced voice of captain Harkness boomed.

He went ahead and conjured up lines of fire in the grass around him to attack the goblins and light the way for the riders behind him.

When the group rushed in it became visible how the line wasn't broken but curved inwards, up ahead they met not with the light infantry but more shields. Behind them the other shield goblins closed in. They were encircled.

-

"Ah! We're trapped!" One of the knights exlaimed.

"Keep your nerve nephew," the captain said, in a natural volume, "the enemy has no troops that can match our strength."

A magical bolt of ice shot at him, but he trivially dodged it. It hit his nephew and knocked him off his horse.

Lydia Harkness trotted forward on her horse from between the goblins. Flanked on either side by her bandit warriors.

With five of them they were one less than the six horseback riders trapped by the goblins.

"Maurice Harkness!" She exclaimed. "I challenge you!"

"You are not a knight Lydia." He said clearly and understandibly, without screaming. "You aren't even a peasant. You are a bandit. And you can not invoke that right."

"So you would rather spill the blood of your men for the stakes of this battle." She challenged.

"Our purpose here is to exterminate you lot. All of you." He answered calmly. "A clash can not be avoided."

"Booo!" The goblins protested as if he were an unpopular politician. "Booo!"

Enraged she spurred on her horse and raced towards him, drawing her blade.

The bandits beside her engaged with the other knights to keep them occupied.

-

Huckabee and the others seemed overwhelmed by the force of the enemies, having to hang on to their mounts not to fall off after locking blades.

"Ha!" One of the enemy boasted. "You're-"

He couldn't finish his sentence as he was thrown of his horse by a heavy bolas.

Two hobgoblins, Ada and Felix, launched debilitating effects on the knights from the safety of the goblin mass. They'd left behind their horses but they towered above their family by virtue of height and could launch their cursed objects at the enemy.

With their aid the bandits were able to get on equal footing with the knights. Neither side getting the upper hand.

-

Meanwhile Lydia and her father were much more evenly matched.

From the moment they first touched steel their battle had evolved to be much more acrobatic.

Neither was shy to leave their saddle for momentary tactical advantage, jumping over each other, spinning, and making space to toss throwing knives at one another.

During their fight the space they were dancing around in was shrinking, as the goblins closed in with their spears and side arms to skewer the knight captain.

"Cowards! Get up!" He yelled at his comrades who were being held down entirely agains their will.

Having to jump out of the way of goblin weapons he sacrificed his stance had his sword knocked out of his hands.

"Give it up old man, don't make me kill you." She threatened.

He took a throwing knife and clenched it backward in his fist, then rushed at her.

"Agh!" Displeased at having to do it she hacked into his arm, piercing his shoulder with the tip of her sword at the same time.

He stumbled backwards, but didn't fall.

"Just give in!" She screamed in distress.

With no real plan or hope he walked backwards, his back towards the rest of his enemies.

"Should've killed you.... should've killed you...." He mumbled, clutching his hurt arm.

"Captain!" One of the other knights took notice of their commander's poor state and jumped out between him and the bandit leader. "Somebody do something! We have to get out of here. Use your mana, it's life or death!"

Balls and circles of fire began to form around the knights in the enclosed space.

The bandits had to back off from their enemy when faced with such spells, leaving room for them to get up and mount their horses.

"We can't let the enemy commander leave." Lydia Harkness stated, sticking out her weapon.

"Well you will." The young knight said, supporting the man with one arm and backing away from her.

"What's your name?" She asked.

"Mine's Rocksteady. I know yours." He grimaced. "The Harknesses are assassins, rogues. We Rocksteadies..." A magical spell began to form in his hand. "Are mages!"

He spun around and fired it the other way, at the backline of goblins keeping them closed in. A flash of yellow energy connected and created a loud explosion, blasting the goblins apart and opening the way up back to the fortress.

Rocksteady began to run with the captain, who was losing consciousness. As he did his comrades lifted them up their own horses to carry them off. They burtst out of the battlefield before the goblins had time to collect themselves.

-

"After them!" Lydia yelled, wasting no time mounting a horse in one simple jump.

The bandits were hesitant. But Ada managed to get a hold of Huckabee's horse, who had fallen off, and followed after her.

"No fair, me too!" Felix yelled after her. She laughed triumphantly.

As the pursuers began to catch up to the fleeing cavalry they entered the illuminated view of the fortess. An eerie space of white light under a dark sky.

"We can't let them go back to heal." Harkness insisted to Felix next to her. "If we kill him this whole thing is over. We won't have to sacrifice anymore-"

She was stopped by the sudden appearance of a mounted wind wolf in their path. The horses came to a sudden panicked stop.

The wolf growled angrily at them and so did the goblin on top. "What are you doing here? Go back you maniacs."

"We have to-"

"We're in range of the archers, hadn't you noticed? When they see you you're a porcupine."

"We're almost-"

"No. Come back with me, now."

With the plan to capture the enemy leader foiled, they had to resort to the original siege strategy.

Everywhere surrounding the fortress the army pitched their tents, erected barricades, and generally dug themselves in for a long-term occupation.

The main family from the Promise were not helping with establishing the camp, they were embroiled in an argument.

"You know I nearly lost you there." Scratch fumed. "And not just yourself either."

Lydia Harkness took on a serene and wise affectation. "I understand your concerns but-"

"We would have won!" Ada interrupted. The two boys kept to the side inspecting their wounds, but she'd taken her mother's side. "If you hadn't stopped us, we'd have won."

Harkness calmed her down with a gentle shush. "We started this war. We can't expect others to risk their lives before us."

Scratch put his hands on his hips and impatiently tapped his foot. "Bullshit we can't. I've collected these kids specifically to protect you."

"What I'm saying is we mustn't."

"Don't-" Scratch was on the verge of shouting but recollected himself and started again. "It's like you've already forgotten about Angus. I suppose that loss wasn't a big deal, you'd like to repeat it."

The words were especially hurtful. Harkness' eyes opened wide and her breath stopped. Everybody was quiet.

Off to the side You There coughed into his hand. "*cough* Open in the dam. *cough*"

"But it's not your fault," he continued, taking the hint, "they've put that on your all your life haven't they? Those people.

You were supposed to discount yourself."

"Well..." she stammered, trying to get the conversation back on track without seeming too distraught. "As a knight..."

"Lydia." He approached her and took her hands in his. "I want you to tell me that you value your own life."

"Of course I do."

"Tell me you don't ride into danger like that because you'd prefer to die a hero to life with us."

"No!"

"I know you don't. But they've got you acting like you do Ly! That father of yours, he's getting inside your head. You're acting like one of them."

She sighed, regaining serenity. "Scratch. I promise to value my life."

"Good." He kissed her hand. "That's all I want to hear."

With that the argument was over and they returned to the order of the day, able to enjoy each other's company peacefully as they strengthened their siege camp.

They were able to eat some of the more nutritious food wares they'd stolen from the humans the day before.

At some point they were discussing the abilities of the enemy. "How can we compete with magic that strong?" Jasper asked.

"Those knights used up all their mana out of desperation," Harkness explained, "it will take a long time before they can cast magic again."

"But there are other knights that also have magic like that." He insisted.

"Well, we'll just have to be careful." She ruffled his hair.

"The magic I'm worried about is that voice thingy." Scratch said. "It was like night and day how quickly they responded and how slowly we did."

-

It wasn't until much later that Scratch and his demon discussed the argument they'd had.

"You did well to follow my advice master," You There whispered to him over the water trough where they cleaned their mugs, "their current identity must be uncomfortable, and the preferred one reachable with much less tarnish of the pride. When you spun the selfless chivalry as involuntary reactions to a foreign power that was an excellent inspiration.

"Hhm." Scratch grumbled, not looking up from his work. "Doesn't seem to do much."

"Of course, as I said, there are no singular magic phrases. But if you maintain this narrative, Lydia Harkness will find the strength to eschew her heroic ideals."

Scratch looked up and pointed accusingly. "I haven't forgotten how you tricked me into using your power on a goblin. I half expect this to have a horrible catch as well."

"You give me too much credit master, how could I do that?."

"...Right." Scratch seemed unconvinced.

"I have no path to her but through you."

"Right." He was displeased but less suspicious.

Benesant

All four realms can cooperate by a shared belief in the values of Benesant, goddess of light.

While the citizens of reddington embody the fiery nature of Rhada, the Grienicians the tranquility of Histolf, the Blurich population is free spirited like Dower and the denizens of the Yellow Wastes are inflexible like Geros, they are all kind and just like Benesant.

It was the goddess Benesant that gave the world the magic art of healing, which has saved many lives, as well light, curse removal, and protective spells against evil creatures.

While the elemental magic of the other gods is taught in colleges, the light magic of Benesant is the exclusive domain of the church. Because of this, healing magic can be received for free by the pious.

Adventurers with the healing class are often clerics of the church, or student of one. Their connection to healing magic gives them a special status and they may lead ecclestial ceremonies such as baptizing or marriage if there are no officials available.

The white robe and mitre are the official uniform of healers and may not be worn by others, lest they be mistaken for a person of note.