Relief from the Light

-Shoggoth-

“Explain to me again-” Ruddy started, sitting in the driver’s seat of the carriage, steadily plodding along the ground as Shoggoth’s tendrils moved dexterously in the back of the carriage full of supplies. “How does cooking help anyone right now?” Ruddy glanced back to see the shadowy tendrils expertly peeling and chopping a potato.

They had been traveling south for a few days now, ever since leaving the Trifecta’s base. Ruddy wondered why Shoggoth didn’t just do that instant transport ability it used earlier, but Shoggoth was adamant about the importance of carrying these crates of supplies by horse.

“I suppose we’re close enough.” Strangely, Shoggoth seemed a little less ominous lately. Sure, it was a horrific, unnatural entity that shouldn’t exist. But maybe it was because the Trifecta was now allying itself with it.

Though the image of its eye on the window was still burnt into the back of Ruddy’s brain.

“As I’m sure you’re already aware, we are heading for… the place you might consider the ‘cradle of civilization’ for most of this world. A once important city left to decay by people ages ago. All that’s left is the ruins of Mesolefko, and those that try to eke out a living in the harsh environment.” As Shoggoth spoke, it continued its cooking.

“The reason people left in the first place, you ask? Well, some surely followed the word of their gods, looking for optimal places to worship. But many, truthfully, left because the land couldn’t support the population. Once rich soil is dry and barren, the freshwater river the city was built alongside is dirty and weak, and even the ocean it borders is full of trash instead of fish.”

“Yet people still live there,” Ruddy continued, aware of the condition of the city. “Ignored by the gods and the kingdoms, people still try to live. If you call having barely enough to eat, nor enough money to pay for healing, ‘living.’” He shook his head. “I’ve heard it’s become a haven for those who fled from everything. The worst of all outcasts and criminals…”

“And yet the Trifecta doesn’t offer assistance.” Shoggoth pointed out. “‘It’s too far away.’ ‘The cost of helping them is greater than the value of using them.’ ‘We need stronger fighters for the cause.’ 'Silence is watching over them.' All excuses for turning a blind eye on something they simply don’t know how to solve.”

“And you do?!” Ruddy snapped. “Don’t act like you’re a paragon of justice and freedom, not when you’re manipulating the Trifecta for your own purposes. Using our cause for your own schemes.”

Shoggoth only smiled, that disturbing grin in the shadows. “Does helping people for selfish reasons negate the act of helping people? Is your cause just and good even if it means using murderers and thieves?”

Ruddy was about to snap back with a defensive response, only to smell something… delicious… wafting from the back of the carriage. “Y-you still haven't explained what cooking has to do with anything.”

By now, the carriage reached the edge of the city of Mesolefko, with long abandoned dilapidated clay and stone and wood buildings littered everywhere. Some were still used as shelters for some scrungy-looking people, typically gaunt with hunger and pale with sickness.

And the smell of the food cooking in the carriage was stronger than any bait, as they stared at, and began to follow the carriage as it rode deeper into town.

Ruddy made doubly sure that his neck gaiter was hidden from sight.

“It’s simple. The best way to recruit followers is to help a community. And the best way to help hungry people is to feed them. Now put on your game face, you’re going to be advertising this pot of soup.”

The carriage continued through the roads of the city, passing by more intact buildings, though still decaying. And then passing by houses and businesses, until the carriage stopped in the city center, where a crowd of people were gathering to see why a carriage smelling of hot food was showing up to a town that could barely afford bread, let alone the smell of meat that drew every nose.

“I don’t feel right charging these people for this food.” Ruddy hesitantly looked around from behind his hood, seeing how surrounded they were. Adults and children alike were practically skin and bones as they approached. Even the magic that flowed through all living beings felt stifled and weak here.

“Who said anything about charging? This is all for free.” There was some loud rustling in the back as Shoggoth moved stuff around. “Now get out, and dish up some grub. I worked hard on this.”

Ruddy climbed out of the seat of the carriage, and made his way to the back of the carriage. He kept his eyes peeled on every possible threat, spotting rusty knives and all sorts of improvised weapons among the crowd.

He could only imagine what horrible dish Shoggoth made back there. Even if it smelled good, it may be made from people, or filled with tainted blood.

No one expected to see a large pot of soup, white and thick with sausage and potatoes and other vegetables, with a nice helping of spices mixed in. Dozens of wooden bowls with spoons were stacked alongside it.

“What is this?” Ruddy asked, hesitantly taking a sip from the ladle. “What is this!” Ruddy yelled. It was the most delicious thing he’s ever tasted. An explosion of flavor he always imagined gracing the tables of royalty and their lackeys.

But as much as he wanted to eat a full bowl of it, people were already coming up from behind him, and one was pulling out their knife. So he turned the tables by quickly turning around with a bowl of soup in his hand, offering it with a kind smile visible through his hood. “Won’t you join us for a meal, my friends?”

The would-be attacker was caught off guard, eying both the bowl and Ruddy suspiciously, and glancing into the dark carriage. With the large pot and the crates and sacks of food, it was hard to see in the back, where sparks of flame flickered faint lights on the walls of the carriage, almost giving off the impression of someone hiding in the shadows.

But not one to turn up food, the man snatched the bowl, and tossed the spoon aside, slurping down the soup quickly, keeping an eye on Ruddy.

He gulped down the first few bites without thinking, but it was only when it hit his tongue, did he realize his mistake, and how wasteful it was to let it spill down his cheeks and chin.

“Here, dry it up with this, my friend.” Ruddy was surprised to find that Shoggoth had also made many loaves of bread, but he was quick to offer a chunk of bread to the man, who snatched it just as eagerly.

Whatever this soup was, the man’s hostile intentions faded as he enjoyed the food. If he intended to strike, he lost the chance as more people pushed past him, clearly wanting to take advantage of what they assumed was some fool feeding them for free.

They were too hungry to consider an ulterior motive.

And others were too hungry to let people stay standing near the carriage long enough to consider doing anything untoward to Ruddy.

The stack of bowls diminished rapidly, the pot of soup drained, and was replaced with another pot right after. When bowls began to run out, Ruddy could just barely catch Shoggoth’s eye sliding through shadows of the crowd, picking up tossed aside bowls and utensils, and bringing them back, somehow sparkling clean.

There were a few people trying for seconds, and to Ruddy’s surprise, Shoggoth let them eat their fill.

When a child, or otherwise opportunistic sort, tried to sneak into the carriage from the front or the sides, Ruddy kept the corner of his eye on them, and wasn’t that surprised when they fled the carriage, grinning ear to ear with a single touch from Shoggoth and its strange powers.

By the time the crowd was dying down, Shoggoth compelled Ruddy to make a speech. So he climbed up a step on the back of the carriage so he could be seen by the people still meandering about, finishing their bowls and looking for seconds and thirds.

It was a pretty diverse crowd, fitting the location. Humans of all colors, demihumans like elves or dwarves or dog and cat-folk, and 'monsters' like orcs or minotaurs or lamias. The dredges of society, ignored, abandoned, or outcast by the gods and their followers.

“My friends!” Ruddy started, using a simple spell to allow his words to reach everyone here. As one blessed by the entire Trifecta, he didn’t need prayer to activate spells, courtesy of the blessing of Silence. “We came here today, for the express purpose of helping you all! The gods have not ignored you! Shoggoth, god of Knowledge, has bid me to allow you all to enjoy this meal together! Tomorrow too, we shall dine as brothers and sisters, not in any cause but the path of life we all must tread. So I ask you to tell your friends, your families, your neighbors! For tomorrow, more food will be here, waiting, courtesy of Shoggoth!”

Naturally, there was a lot of mixed confusion, and a few half-hearted cheers. While there were many gods, there had never been a mention of a God of Knowledge. But this place was far from all kingdoms, and kept away from the affairs of the Pantheon.

Some may have wondered why such a god was helping them. Those that once went to church would know that all faiths would ask for prayer before or after their meal. Sometimes both. And typically tithes were, if not required, at least strongly recommended.

“Here, you should eat up too.” A shadowy tendril lifted one last bowl of soup up to Ruddy. “Food tastes better when shared with friends.”

Ruddy was used to being hungry. And he was used to passing out bowls of whatever grub was around to his fellows. The one who passes out food is the one last to eat, to ensure everyone gets their food.

But this was the first time he was absolutely famished after smelling the delectable bowls of unknown soup with every bowl he passed around. So he took the bowl, and ate greedily of food and bread.

“What kind of soup is this?” Ruddy asked once more as Shoggoth picked up the last of the discarded dishes to clean, only ever sticking to the shadows, yet moving faster than a rat chased by a cat.

Despite Shoggoth moving around, its voice was still clear in Ruddy’s ear, or perhaps in the back of his mind, or within the carriage itself, yet no one else could hear or even notice it. “It’s a sausage and potato soup. Nothing complex. I did some trades at the Trifecta’s camp for the rare supplies for meals before we left.”

“Hmm…” Ruddy hummed, not really wanting to know who Shoggoth was trading with, or with what. “It’s… probably the best thing I ever tasted.”

Shoggoth seemed to chuckle. “Well, take it from me, I know a thing or two.”

It took all of Ruddy’s willpower not to crack a smile at that. And he’s sure Shoggoth knew that too. He just let his mouth fill with more bread to disguise the slight upturn at the corners of his lips.

Since when did gods crack jokes? In all of Ruddy’s life, being abandoned by the goddess of light, finding himself under the grace of the Pariah Gods, and speaking to many demigods and champions and other speakers, he had never heard a god make a joke.

Just another thing in a long list that confused Ruddy about the entity he was dragged along by.

And he could only wonder what the average people are beginning to think of Shoggoth.

With this confusion sown, among those close and far, Shoggoth’s plan began to move along, one free meal at a time.