《Beyond the Bridge》


 0 - Prologue

    ¡°Adventurers? Here?! Not if I have anything to say about it! Nothing¡¯s come out of the forest in decades; we don¡¯t need that kind of riff-raff causing trouble.¡±


    - Jeb McKallum, Mayor of Honningbrook, the day before he was eaten by giant spiders.


    <h4>Mayor¡¯s Office, Bridgetown</h4>


    ¡°Really? The Butcher of Tahrim¡¯s Hold? And he¡¯s not even the worst of the lot you¡¯re letting come through into my town.¡± The halfling behind the desk wore a truly impressive scowl. It was one he seldom used, but which everyone in town knew to be wary of when it appeared.


    Well. Almost everyone. The ordinary-looking human woman in a military uniform bearing the brunt of his ire seemed completely unperturbed.


    ¡°We¡¯re aware of his history. Of all their histories, Mr. Mayor. They¡¯ve all been licensed by the Adventurer¡¯s Guild, and are bound by its strictures. If he, or any of the others, slip up in town, the Hellrazers are less than three hours away by Bridge, and until they arrive I have full confidence in my personnel to be able to handle them.¡± She raised one of her hands, conjuring a miniature whirlwind of blue arcane energy above her palm. ¡°I¡¯m fully capable of putting ¡®the Butcher¡¯ away on my own, frankly. That epithet was almost entirely earned as an officer in his world¡¯s military, anyway, not as a lone combatant. I strongly doubt that the cult he¡¯s joined since then has given him enough power to beat me.¡±


    ¡°Hmph.¡± The mayor looked at the other guest in his office. ¡°And you, Captain? There aren¡¯t any in there,¡± he gestured at the folder of dossiers on his desk, ¡°that you feel would be a threat to the town?¡±This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    The captain, a brown-furred catfolk bearing a painful-looking burn scar across the lower left of his face, flipped through his own copy of the folder. ¡°Ehh, this one will give them another look¡­ let us see: shaman convicted of stealing an elven cultural artifact, black-market soul-monger, undead abomination who can¡¯t be killed permanently, brownie with a talking magic sword, an elemental apparently made entirely out of a magically toxic mineral, soldier discharged from the 16th for disciplinary reasons, minor nature demigod, giant lizard who thinks he¡¯s a dragon, cleric of the fae goddesses of bad luck, full-blood orc with a boar twice as big as he is, and last but not least an honest-before-the-moons succubus¡­ Ahh, no, no, that all sounds about right to this one.¡± He gave a carefully-toothless smile. ¡°Our previous batches of adventurers were almost offensively stereotypical, sir. The fact that this lot are so, ehm, unusual doesn¡¯t necessarily mean that they¡¯re more of a threat to the town, yes?¡±


    He paused a moment before continuing. ¡°Still, this one understands why you have reservations, sir. He will see to it that they play nice with the civilians.¡± Nodding at the woman seated next to him, he added, ¡°And he is certain that the Major¡¯s usual warning about the Hellrazers will be received loud and clear, especially by this group. The ones you are concerned about have all stepped a bit too close to Federation law before this, and they¡¯re likely even more aware of the consequences of slipping up than the average adventurer we saw in the past.¡±


    The mayor seemed to visibly deflate as he sighed, dropping the scowl and taking up a more weary expression. ¡°Fine, fine. So long as you two are unconcerned, I should be able to calm people down when they inevitably learn all the gory details of our new visitors. When did you say the first of them were coming through? Three days, yeah? Well, then, we¡¯ve some work to do before that, hmm?¡±


    He picked up the first file and flipped it open, revealing a lumen-print of a tan woman with straight brown hair, dancing blue eyes, and a prominent nose set above a wide grin. ¡°Let¡¯s start off with that sticky-fingered shaman, the Arbodor woman and her pet hawk...¡±

 1 - Ratcatchers

    Adventurers are called ¡°rat-catchers¡± for a reason. Somebody is needed to clear the vermin out of the sewers and cellars across the Federation, and doing so is one of the best ways to test the mettle of the Guild¡¯s newer recruits. While the phrase is often used in a derogatory fashion by non-adventurers, most full members of the Guild treat the nickname as a badge of honor, because they know that in many places rats can grow to the size of a small wolf and nevertheless remain near the bottom of the underground food chain.


    - ¡°Rise of the Federation, Part IV¡± by Anselm Avernum, historian-in-residence at the Federation Ministry of Expansion.


    <h4></h4>


    <h4>Sewers beneath Eghem</h4>


    ¡°Get down!¡±


    The warning came just in time. I dropped to one knee in the muck as a glob of rotten liquified flesh flew through the space where my head would have been. I didn¡¯t turn around to look at the bile wight that spat the thing - I had more immediate concerns, and I could see Faraday already pointing his sword, glowing golden like the sun, at the creature behind me, so I figured he had it handled.


    I drew an arrow, nocked it, whispered a lightning-quick prayer, and loosed it into the oncoming cultist¡¯s disease-ridden face in one smooth motion. At this range, though, I didn¡¯t have the time to aim before he was on me, and it wasn¡¯t a terrible surprise when the arrow skidded off his jaw instead of sinking into his throat. He flinched away, giving me time to stand up and draw one of my knives, but then he was back on me, snarling and raising the crude wooden club embedded with filth-covered nails that this cult seemed to be using as their primary weapon.


    Seriously, what kind of messed-up god has a shit-covered spiked club as their favored weapon? And who worships that? This is why taking a job cleaning out the sewers is always a gamble - it¡¯s never just dire rats down there. I¡¯d been hoping for giant alligators, though, not a frenzied disease-cult. The alligators I had a chance to negotiate with, and could be skinned if they didn¡¯t want to cooperate; these cultists didn¡¯t have any interest in talking and looked broke as paupers.


    Fight now, bitch about your luck later, I thought to myself, feinting at the idiot¡¯s eyes to make him pull his next strike and murmuring another prayer. Hopefully, this one worked.


    When a silvery mist started oozing from the blade in my hand, I grinned cheerfully at my opponent and blurred forwards, the spirits coating the knife guiding my hand and leading the blade straight into his jugular. My other hand, still clutching the shortbow, thwocked it into his wrist and knocked the club out of his hand, preventing his flailing attempt to get one last hit in. He gurgled and pawed at me as I pulled the blade free, accompanied by a gout of arterial blood and, soon after, a wet plop as he fell face-first into the sewage.


    These guys were tenacious, I had to give them that. Definitely some kind of death cult, given that they had a bile wight fighting for them and they didn¡¯t seem to fear death. While that last bit might have been admirable in other circumstances, right now it was a pain, as more of them were rushing in through the two side tunnels, uncaring that we¡¯d already killed six of their fellows.


    Faraday was now fully locked in combat with the wight, his armor glowing faintly as he deflected its jagged claws and burned away its parasite-laden bile, riposting with a gleaming strike that seared the creature where the blade touched. He looked like he had the thing under control, but we needed to give him the space to finish it off.


    ¡°Cherubix, make a wall, don¡¯t let them surround us!¡± I shouted, tossing my knife at the oncoming cultists - and missing, dammit - and drawing another arrow which immediately started smoking silver as soon as I put it to the bowstring, thank the gods.


    ¡°On it!¡± A bright, child-like voice responded from behind me, soon followed by a loud crackle and shouts of dismay and pain that heralded a wall of lightning appearing in one of the sewer chamber¡¯s entrances.


    With a twang, I loosed the arrow, and in a streak of silver mist it embedded itself right between the eyes of one of the cultists coming from my side of the room, slamming his head back and into the muck as he crumpled bonelessly. I drew another arrow, frowning as I realized how low I¡¯d gotten on ammunition. There were three more cultists remaining in my end of the chamber, and I had only two arrows left. Not the kind of math I liked. While I could handle myself in melee - as my last dance partner had found out - I really preferred hitting enemies from a distance.


    They were getting closer, weapons raised and blood in their eyes. I nocked the arrow, feeling the rush of combat lift me up but not letting it carry me away. You had to be fast to survive, but trying to move too fast was how you ended up missing your mark and having to go two or three against one, instead of one on one. Quickly, smoothly, letting your body flow without pause but never moving too fast - that was how you made it out the other side in one piece. That fleeting, sublime moment of exaltation was better than any drug, and I wouldn¡¯t trade it for all the gold of any world.


    Breathe in, pull the string back, aim, murmur a prayer on the exhale, loose.


    As a cultist stumbled and fell with an arrow through her heart and I drew the last one in my quiver, I felt a bloom of heat from behind me and heard an impact on the far end of the chamber, accompanied by a very brief shriek as someone got lit on fire. A splash of stinking water hit me from behind, followed by a joyous ¡°Wheeeee!¡± as Cherubix¡¯s voice dopplered away from me. I could tell when she landed by the new sounds of fire and screaming cultists.


    Brownies, man. Don¡¯t ever give one a magic sword if you¡¯re not sure it¡¯s on your side.


    <hr>


    ¡°So, what¡¯s the total?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Three silver, eighty-seven copper,¡± Faraday grunted. ¡°One profane driftwood and bronze idol, which we¡¯ll not be getting anything for directly but might boost our reward by a bit. One amulet that the Light is telling me very clearly needs to be consecrated and destroyed. A dozen¡­¡± he coughed, ¡°befouled spiked clubs which nobody in an actual fighting force would be caught dead with, even if they weren¡¯t cursed by whatever god these poor souls were worshipping. Assorted clothes, most of them either burned or fouled-¡±


    ¡°Dibs!¡± Cherubix chirped from where she was diligently scrubbing away at the area around the blood- and shit-stained idol. I didn¡¯t see the point, given that the filth was literally an inch thick, but there are few more futile things than telling a fey creature to ignore one of its most basic urges. ¡°I can cleanse them, then use them as rags!¡±Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.


    Faraday and I exchanged a glance, shrugged simultaneously in mutual agreement, and proceeded further down the loot.


    It wasn¡¯t much, frankly. Most of these guys had been destitute when they got here, looked like, and the cult had just made them into maddened scavengers. Some loose change, some more copper amulets that were just ugly, rather than cursed, a few cheap daggers, and the idol. That thing I wasn¡¯t even sure was worth carrying to the surface, given how heavy and bulky it looked, but Faraday seemed relatively sanguine about carting it, and since he was our group¡¯s current pack mule I wasn¡¯t going to tell him he couldn¡¯t. He probably just wanted to make extra sure the cult didn¡¯t have a chance to start up again, what with the whole ¡°paladin¡± thing.


    The real pity here was that the bile wight wasn¡¯t on the loot list. Normally, the undead worms infesting one of them could be harvested and sold to disreputable alchemists in the wrong part of town. When the creature had finally stopped moving, though, Faraday had promptly seared the remains with holy fire, leaving nothing but a smear of charred filth on the stone tiles. He insisted that it was necessary to prevent the parasites from escaping and infesting a new host, and he wasn¡¯t wrong, but still - that was perfectly good money that just went up in smoke!


    Ah, well, it¡¯s a small price to pay for running with him, I thought to myself. There were times when I wished he weren¡¯t quite so self-sacrificing, but he certainly wasn¡¯t the ¡®lawful stupid¡¯ that I¡¯ve heard a couple of others referred to. And oh man was he useful in a pinch.


    I glanced once more at the idol. ¡°Okay, big guy, if you¡¯re willing to hump the thing, I¡¯m all for it.¡± He nodded, already digging in his pack for rope. ¡°Cherubix, you good? Anything else you want from these guys before we light them up?¡± I nudged one of the corpses with my boot. Faraday had been insistent on seeing they had last rights done, evil-deity-worship be damned. So we¡¯d piled them all together after rifling through their mostly-nonexistent pockets, and were going to ensure their bodies weren¡¯t available for the next death cult to use for parts.


    The brownie grinned, child-like but with disturbingly big teeth and eyes. ¡°Nope! If we¡¯re not staying around here to clean up, I¡¯m good to go!¡± She glared at the bodies. ¡°Serves em right for letting this place get into such a state. Don¡¯t you think, Walter?¡±


    ¡°Oh yeah, definitely, these guys were jerks,¡± the sword at her hip - actually a dagger, but compared to her two-foot-tall frame it looked like a longsword - emanated in a dull voice. Walter was a Soul Blade, a weapon imbued with a mortal¡¯s soul. Cherubix had apparently acquired him through an auction after the Feds raided the illegal manaforge where he¡¯d been created, and they¡¯d been fast friends ever since. I still wasn¡¯t sure whether his personality was a side-effect of having his soul ripped out and welded into a sword, or if he¡¯d had the same extremely flat affect when he was still alive. Either way, the contrast between the two - the hyper and always-chipper brownie and the monotone voice coming from her weapon - always served to lighten the mood.


    Smiling slightly at their byplay, I drew one of my knives and started scraping a ritual circle around the corpse-pile. The layers of filth caked onto the stone actually helped with that, alleviating the need for chalk or salt. Seven sticks of incense were lit and placed in the appropriate sub-circles, Faraday and Cherubix were instructed to stand in their own circles, and then I began to chant an ancient Sylvan prayer for peaceful sleep.


    One verse in, I flicked a finger at Faraday, and he began his own prayer, channeling divine power into the circle, causing the lines and the bodies within to glow with a faint golden light.


    With every verse I chanted, the spirits I was calling gathered, forming a shroud of faint silvery mist over the bodies, their eldritch song growing in volume in my ears. Their voices teased and coaxed the restless ghosts within the corpses, drawing them out and onwards to their final slumber. Faraday was holding up his end, too, as the glow increased in intensity with each word he spoke, until it was as bright as day within the chamber. When I was almost at the end of the seventh verse, I looked at Cherubix and nodded as I went into the final refrain.


    With a quiet fwoosh, Walter was wreathed in fire, and when Cherubix touched the blade to the circle the flames quickly spread through it and onto the corpses like they were coated in oil. The fire flickered silver and gold, and the bodies within were swiftly reduced to ash, leaving the grime beneath untouched by the heat. A plume of silvery ectoplasm rose up to the chamber¡¯s ceiling and quickly dissipated, as the collected spirits - the ones I¡¯d summoned, as well as those of the poor schmucks we¡¯d just killed - went on to the other side of the Veil.


    Not a bad day¡¯s work, all things considered. Admittedly, we¡¯d probably run into yet more dire rats on our way out, but since those were what we¡¯d come here to kill in the first place, I wasn¡¯t going to complain. Might even get some gators too, if we were lucky.


    <h4>Eghem, sewer entrance</h4>


    Sweet heavens, but it felt good to see the sky again. All three of us reeked of the filth that we¡¯d been trudging through for the last few hours, and I wanted a bath desperately. Faraday had a cleansing prayer that should keep any diseases from sinking their claws into us, and Cherubix had a faerie spell for magicking our gear spotless and stench-free, negating two of the worst consequences of delving into sewers, but it would take at least an hour of soaking and scrubbing for me to feel clean again.


    A pulse of disgust from above let me know that Ko was entirely in agreement. My friend launched himself from where he¡¯d been perched on a nearby tenement, circling downwards slowly. He was a gorgeous bird, though I¡¯m obviously a bit biased - a goshawk with a striped brown-and-cream front, copper-colored wings with spots of white, and piercing golden eyes above a small but viciously hooked beak. Not seeing any part of his customary perch on my shoulder that wasn¡¯t covered in gross, he instead alighted on the stone arch we¡¯d just walked out of.


    <You okay, ratet? Felt like you ran into some proper excitement down there,> he said. He had his own language that we¡¯d worked out over the decade since I¡¯d bonded him as my familiar, half physical movement and half transmitted through the emotional link we shared. It wasn¡¯t as precise as a verbal language, but it left very little room for misunderstanding intent, which was what mattered for our purposes.


    I shrugged, trying to ignore the squelching that emanated from my leathers at the motion. ¡°Nah, we¡¯re good. Walked into some sort of cultist den, but other than an undead minion they were just a bunch of untrained and underfed goons.¡± I jerked a thumb at Faraday, who was currently shifting under the weight of the idol he¡¯d strapped onto his pack, reaching for the flask of tubehhe kept at his hip. ¡°Big guy¡¯s got their altar or whatever; we need to make a stop at the nearest temple to a Good God to have it purified. You know of any nearby?¡±


    He cocked his head in that way only a bird of prey can, wracking his memory of Eghem¡¯s layout. Since he literally had a birds-eye-view, we¡¯d long since made it a habit for him to be the party cartographer. Even if he couldn¡¯t actually draw us a map, his memory for landmarks was nearly infallible. <Should be a temple to¡­ Want to say Milos. Eight blocks away and one terrace up. One of the local gods. Humble-looking place with a big bronze kettle out front. They were feeding people soup this morning. I saw at least a bit of magic happening in their courtyard when I was flying over yesterday. Though, no idea if they¡¯ve got the chops to take care of...> he glared at the idol, <that. Is that supposed to be a dead snake coming out of its mouth? What kind of cult was this?>


    I snorted at the last bit, sending a pulse of agreement back along our link, and relayed what he¡¯d said to the others. We set off, with Ko flapping from rooftop to rooftop and offering color commentary on how glad he was that he had the sense not to tramp through a city¡¯s worth of excrement, and how us two-leggers had such awful taste in gods, with a few notable (avian-aspected) exceptions. I regaled Faraday and Cherubix with the best of my friend¡¯s wit, which brought an occasional smirk to the paladin¡¯s normally stoic expression and sent the brownie into gales of laughter.


    The temple was, in fact, home to a priest with enough magical talent to cleanse the idol, and we finally got a name for the fucked-up deity the cult had been worshipping: Inemis, ¡°the rotting worm.¡± Classy-sounding fella. Gods, but I hated dealing with local pantheons, they got so weird out here in the sticks. I know there¡¯s a metaphysical reason for the more distant worlds to have more varied cultures and divinities, but keeping track of the different gods and goddesses who ran these places gets tiring after your first dozen hops along the Bridges.


    Regardless, after depositing the idol and the amulets, both cursed and mundane, and getting a writ from Milos¡¯ head priest saying that we¡¯d done the city a good service by clearing out the cult, we made the half-hour-long trek back towards our inn, and a dearly-needed bath.

 2 - Preparation

    Rule 214: Never count on your reward being higher than the bounty on the notice. If they can refuse payment, they will.


    - ¡°1001 Rules for Adventuring,¡± standard issue to all new Adventurer¡¯s Guild initiates.


    <h4>City Bursar¡¯s Office, Eghem</h4>


    ¡°Perhaps we misunderstood. We thought you were offering payment for ridding the sewers of dangerous elements. This cult was clearly raising the dead and attempting to brew up some sort of plague, and we stopped them. Were we wrong to expect this to be of value to the great city of Eghem?¡±


    Ugh. Bureaucrats. We¡¯d gotten cleaned up, gathered the rat tails and the ooze core we¡¯d collected, as well as one of the (non-cursed) amulets of Inemis, and headed off to the Eghem City Bursar¡¯s office. They¡¯d been happy to give us our silver for the rats and the slime, but apparently there was no bounty on dealing with a disease-cult. Unless somebody further up the chain of command stepped in, we were out of luck on getting compensation for that bit of the expedition, writ from the priest of Milos be damned.


    Didn¡¯t mean I couldn¡¯t try to shame them into coughing up some coin, though. For all the good that it was doing.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Miss Arbodor, but as I said, you were hired to hunt dire rats, and anything else on the bounty list we posted. No mention was made of these¡­ cultists, and frankly the only reason we aren¡¯t arresting you for murder is Humble Kaledar¡¯s written testimony in your favor.¡± He looked down his nose at us, which was impressive given that he was sitting behind his desk and we were standing. ¡°Standard Guild procedure when encountering vagrants in sewers is to withdraw, negotiate passage if necessary, and refer the matter to a local authority. If you had brought their activities to our attention, the Bursar might have placed a bounty on their removal, but since you didn¡¯t and he hasn¡¯t, I¡¯m afraid my hands are tied.¡±


    He glanced pointedly at the purse sitting on the desk in between us. ¡°You have your payment, adventurers. If you expect more, I suggest you seek it elsewhere.¡±


    I scowled, but snatched the bag off the desk and tossed it to Faraday, who started transferring its contents to his own coin pouches. ¡°Fine. We¡¯re due at the Bridge tomorrow, anyway. Don¡¯t think we won¡¯t be informing the Guild about how accommodating you¡¯ve been.¡± That last was more about saving face than an actual threat - we¡¯d known going in that Eghem was a backwater, with corrupt and pinch-penny bounty offices, so it wasn¡¯t like that was news to the Guild - but I couldn¡¯t very well leave it be.


    The desk-jockey just sneered at me. ¡°You do that. I¡¯m sure they¡¯ll take the word of a thief into serious consideration, miss.¡± My face went stony at that, and Ko let out a hiss in response to my sudden fury, but Faraday¡¯s hand on my elbow kept me from doing or saying something unwise. I gave the man my best cold glare, then turned around and stalked out of the office behind the paladin.


    ¡°Fucker,¡± I muttered under my breath as we left the building. ¡°How many adventurers does he think have clean records, anyway, huh? Not like the Guild cares if we aren¡¯t pure as the driven snow. And it was once! Not like I made a career of it, unlike some I could name.¡±


    Faraday¡¯s hand came to rest on the shoulder that Ko wasn¡¯t occupying, his gravelly tenor voice taking a comforting tone. ¡°Small men find small ways to hurt us. Don¡¯t let your past mistakes cause you to stumble moving forwards.¡±


    I rolled my eyes, but smiled back at him. ¡°Thank you, oh paladin of platitudes.¡± Looking around, I spotted Cherubix scrubbing the tarnish off of the bronze sculpture in the center of the plaza. We¡¯d learned not to let her into the room when discussing pay - she had a distressing habit of blurting out uncomfortable truths that either annoyed the person we were negotiating with or weakened our position.


    Walking towards the statue, I glanced at Faraday. ¡°You¡¯re still cool with it, then? My, er, ¡®indiscretion¡¯ before I joined the Guild?¡± Ko gave me a squeeze with his talons and sent a gentle flow of reassurance, but kept silent. I knew it was insecurity talking, but¡­ well, if I was going to go into harm¡¯s way next to a guy who was theologically obligated to do something about me breaking the law, it made sense to double-check every now and then that we were still seeing eye-to-eye, right? The fact that all throughout my childhood I was raised with the idea that paladins were fundamentally good, and thus if one of them approved of you then that made you somehow better, had nothing to do with it. Absolutely nothing.Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.


    He shook his head, keeping pace with me. ¡°Dezi, whatever you did is in the past. Who you are now - as imperfect as that may be - is a person who my own eyes, and those of the Light, can tell is worthy of my aid.¡± That subtle smile, which started at his eyes and barely twitched the corners of his mouth, appeared again. ¡°You trust me with the group¡¯s funds when you are the better of us at haggling. You go out of your way to help those in need, and stand between innocents and those who would harm them. If I hadn¡¯t already known you were sworn to your own spirits, or just how independent-minded you can be, I would have long ago asked if you wished to join my own order.¡±


    Ko¡¯s laughter sounded in the back of my mind, and I felt another pulse of love and reassurance from him as he started to run his beak through my hair in his version of a gentle pat on the head. <Listen to the man, ratet. You have your issues, but we¡¯ve got a handle on that itch by now. Can¡¯t keep letting this kind of thing get to you.>


    I reached up and scratched under the feathers of his neck, looking away from both of them and trying to ignore the heat in my cheeks. ¡°Fine, fine, I am a veritable queen among women, I¡¯ll keep that in mind.¡± We¡¯d almost reached the statue by this point, so I called out to Cherubix in a blatant change of subject. ¡°Hey, Cheri, you ready to go? We need to go shopping before we hit C¡¯thon.¡±


    She looked up, smiling that adorable-but-creepily-huge grin of hers. ¡°Sure! Just give me another minute, there¡¯s a crease that¡¯s got a lot of pigeon poo built up in it, I wanna clean that out before I go.¡± So saying, she turned back to the statue and started scrubbing the bit she¡¯d been working on with even more energy.


    Faraday seemed content to leave our previous conversation alone, thankfully, and Ko was all-too-happy to receive scritches in exchange for not embarrassing me further. The next two minutes passed in comfortable silence, before Cherubix straightened with a satisfied smile, tucked the rag into her belt, and leaped over to land lightly on Faraday¡¯s shoulder.


    ¡°Okay! So, where are we going? That market we went to last time was really dirty, but Walter saw some nice and sparkly mana-gems he wanted me to try. I heard one of the other brownies saying there¡¯s another market up in the big shiny white-stone district, but the stuff there¡¯s supposed to be suuuper pricey. Hey, do you think they sell good floor polish there? I could really use a better wax for floors, mine¡¯s starting to dry up. Oooh, maybe they¡¯ve got a magic wax, and that¡¯s how their floors stay shiny for so long!¡±


    I shook my head fondly as Faraday made seriously-considered responses to her stream-of-consciousness meandering. Though she could enter something akin to a meditative state if she wanted to, while she was awake Cherubix didn¡¯t really have an ¡°off¡± switch, in my experience. The closest I¡¯d come was to have Ko discreetly make a mess in another room and then ask her to clean it up, but that was a temporary measure, and couldn¡¯t be used repeatedly. The fact that she wasn¡¯t just a brownie, and thus inclined towards tying all your laces together while you were sleeping if you annoyed her, but also a respectable elementalist capable of setting you on fire with a thought and a gesture, made me leery of doing anything too blatant to distract her. I liked my eyebrows unscorched. Fortunately, she seemed quite capable of distracting herself, so it hadn¡¯t come up very often in our two months of working together.


    During one of the brief lulls in her monologue, I interrupted and asked Faraday, ¡°So, we¡¯re gonna need some trail rations to refill what we¡¯ve gone through this past week, and I need some more arrows and incense after all that excitement in the sewers. Anything on your list?¡±


    He shrugged. ¡°Nothing I¡¯m aware of, no. They said that the major town on C¡¯thon has catered to adventurers before, so if I do end up needing a reagent we should be able to find it there.¡± He frowned, thinking. ¡°Perhaps some cold iron weapon coatings, if what the rumors say about aggressive fey is true. We lack tools to deal with a fey resistant to steel, if we end up facing one.¡±


    I grimaced at the thought of how much even a few pinches of the alchemically-treated metal was going to take out of our budget, but didn¡¯t disagree. Fey were frequently able to shrug off blows made with normal weapons, but they were almost universally vulnerable to cold iron, whichever world you found them on. Cold iron weapons were ruinously expensive, though, and few adventurers who weren¡¯t specifically hunting fey invested in them. However, with the right alchemical bath you could change the metal into spongy flakes that could be rubbed onto a blade or arrowhead, allowing the weapon to punch through a fey¡¯s magical flesh for a few blows before the coating fell apart. It was a standard part of adventuring kit when you knew you might be facing fey, but while it might be more affordable than getting a proper weapon made of the stuff it still wasn¡¯t cheap.


    ¡°So, at least four satchets of cold iron flakes, just in case. Anything else? You need any more of that awful palm-juice you like so much?¡±


    He shook his head, a flash of guilt going across his face at the mention of his preferred alcohol. Cherubix, having picked up on the fact that we were wrapping up the discussion, turned her head back towards me and let out a ¡°Nope, all good here!¡± with a cheerful grin.


    ¡°Ah well, hopefully we¡¯re not missing anything important,¡± I sighed. ¡°Let¡¯s get to it, then. I¡¯ll grab the food and ammo, you go get the cold iron. I¡¯ll meet you two back at the inn.¡±


    And let¡¯s all pray that the rumors aren¡¯t understating the danger, and we¡¯re not walking into something we aren¡¯t prepared for¡­ I thought to myself.

 3 - Arrival

    ¡°Yea, yea, I know we need ¡®em to help clear out the damn cave. That doesn¡¯t mean you can tell me I gotta let ¡®em stay in my barn! Did ye see how that bard fella was looking at my daughter?!¡±


    - Farmer Jack, on being told that a band of adventurers needed a place to stay and that the Farthingham town council had ¡®volunteered¡¯ his barn for the purpose.


    <h4>The Bridgehead, Bridgetown</h4>


    Moving between worlds should feel miraculous - a feeling of freedom, of adventure, the lure of going to new places and meeting new people!


    It doesn¡¯t. Believe me, I¡¯ve walked the Bridges enough to know. It¡¯s actually much like walking for an hour or two between towns, but instead of the intervening hills or fields or forest you¡¯re surrounded by a mind-twisting grey void. It even maintains the country road¡¯s oh-so-lovely odor of cow farts, because you end up in line behind an ox-drawn wagon far more often than you¡¯d think, and the stupid magical tunnel that you¡¯re walking through wasn¡¯t designed to have proper airflow.


    So you can probably understand the subdued joy I felt when I exited the Bridge onto C¡¯thon, officially designated as World Gamma-Theta-Nu-649 in the Federal Exploration Corps logs.


    ¡°Ah, fresh air at last!¡± I spared a moment to glare at the departing backside of the ox-cart filled with mining equipment. ¡°And good riddance to you, sir and/or madam,¡± I said under my breath, before taking a look around and getting my bearings. Ko, sitting on my shoulder, fluffed his feathers in the gentle summer breeze and joined me in surveying the area.


    Bridgetown wasn¡¯t that big, a few thousand people in it at most. From our vantage point atop the Bridge¡¯s raised platform we could see pretty much the whole town. The Bridge had opened up right next to a half-mile-wide river, and FExCorps had done their normal job of creating a fortified settlement to use as a base of operations and a hub for settlers to work out of.


    Unusually, though, even after a couple of decades this one hadn¡¯t expanded very far, only growing three outlying villages, which I could barely see on the horizon. A twenty-foot wall completely encircled the town, with only a couple of docks and a warehouse on the riverbanks extending outside its protection, next to the stone bridge across the river. The town¡¯s buildings were a mishmash of mage-shaped brown stone near the Bridge, shifting to mud-brick adobe near the river, and reddish sandstone blocks on the far side of town, though they all seemed to use the same orange clay shingles on their roofs.


    The townsfolk I could see seemed reasonably healthy and content, but not flush with cash. Tunics and pants were workaday wool, linen, or cotton, with a handful of leathers thrown in, but few silks that I could see. Patches and holes in the fabrics were few and far between, but only a couple of people in the crowd moving goods around the plaza were wearing obviously new clothing. Not a particularly wealthy place, then, but not struggling.


    It was summer here, and a distinct increase in temperature and humidity from the crisp late autumn we¡¯d just left behind in Eghem. The town smelled of a combination of working draft animal, warm brick, the faint tang of human sweat, and a whiff of fish coming from the river, where I presumed the docks supported a small fishing fleet.


    I felt a smile creep across my face, already looking forward to working here. It was almost like my home town of Seraph. Though, admittedly, if the stories I¡¯d heard were even half true, this place had a lot worse problems to deal with than my old stomping grounds used to.


    My companions seemed just as relieved as I was to breathe air that didn¡¯t smell of bovine. Faraday stretched wordlessly, the bundle of armor strapped to his back clinking faintly as it shifted. Cherubix, standing on his shoulder once more, was practically vibrating with the need to dart off and investigate all the new sights and people.


    ¡°Oh, it¡¯s so quaint and rustic-looking! Do you think there are many other brownies here? Oh, oh, that would be fantastic! No wait, maybe it¡¯d be better if there aren¡¯t I¡¯d be able to clean so many houses! Hey, those people are looking at us! Helloooo!¡± She began waving madly at a group off to our right. This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.


    She wasn¡¯t wrong - we had a welcoming committee. And they didn¡¯t look entirely happy to see us. My smile froze, then redoubled in brightness as I put my game face on. Time to go greet the locals.


    I pivoted towards the trio, reaching up to steady Ko so that he didn¡¯t have to work to keep his balance, and started to walk over. Judging by their positioning and body language, the halfling man in the middle was the boss, the human woman on his left was¡­ hm, not an underling, but following his lead. The scary-looking catfolk was definitely acting as if he was taking the halfling¡¯s lead, so we could probably just make do with dealing with the head honcho. I¡¯d need to keep an eye on the woman, though, just in case she turned out to be more independent-minded than I first thought.


    Approaching to almost within comfortable talking range, I started my spiel. Best to get the first word in, set the conversation¡¯s tempo from the start. ¡°Ah, hello! I see we are not unexpected, how wonderful! We are Dezi and Ko, pest relocators extraordinaire. If you¡¯ve got pests, call the best - Dezi and Ko!¡± Flashing my best saleswoman grin and flourishing a small bow, I stood up straight and continued, ¡°And the rest of our party, Sir Faraday of the Order of the Light, and Cherubix, elementalist supreme. Tell me, whom do I have the honor of addressing?¡± By the time I¡¯d stopped talking, I was reaching down to shake the halfling¡¯s hand.


    He blinked, apparently not expecting such a direct or overtly mercantile approach, but then squared his shoulders and shook my hand. Nice solid grip, no attempt to overcompensate for his small size like some halflings I¡¯d met. Not necessarily a good sign, but it likely meant that he wasn¡¯t a petty tyrant or a bully.


    ¡°Ahem. Ms. Arbodor, my name is Theo Featherscratch, mayor of Bridgetown. Good to have you.¡± Sure it was. The tone of voice implied quite the opposite, which wasn¡¯t promising.


    ¡°This,¡± he continued, gesturing at the catfolk, ¡°is Dosashi Marahm, captain of the town guard, and this¡± nodding at the woman in FexCorps uniform ¡°is Major Tor-Harrek, the commander of the town¡¯s FExCorps detachment.¡±


    Ah, so this was apparently going to turn into our obligatory ¡°don¡¯t make trouble in my town¡± talk. Fun. No point in interrupting, then, he¡¯d likely just get pissy about it and keep going on ahead anyway. I gave the two officers a brief, friendly-looking acknowledging nod, making sure to smile and make eye contact. Never act like you¡¯re afraid or nervous in front of authority figures, they¡¯ll think you¡¯ve done something to warrant it.


    The mayor, though, paused for a moment, eyeing each of us carefully, before shaking his head. His expression was still solemn, but there was a bit more good humor in his eyes than there had been when we¡¯d first approached. ¡°Gotta say, you three don¡¯t look nearly as scary as your files suggested. And, frankly, it¡¯s not like we don¡¯t have plenty of, ah, pests roaming around out there.¡± Throwing his hands out wide, his voice rose in volume, enough that nearby townsfolk could clearly hear him. ¡°Welcome to Bridgetown! Hope you enjoy your stay, and that you can help us out around here. We¡¯re awfully short on folks willing to go out and get their hands dirty, you should have plenty of opportunity to make some coin.¡±


    The mayor looked up at the tall-folk standing to either side of him. In a more normal tone, he said ¡°I think I¡¯ve said all I need to, you two can take care of things from here.¡± With a jaunty wave, he turned on his heel and started walking away. ¡°You lot need anything from me, my office is in the big red building off the town square; can¡¯t miss it. Best of luck!¡±


    I blinked. The guy in charge had never handed us off like that - they either made sure we knew that they¡¯d be dealing with us personally if we screwed up, or never spoke to us, staying aloof so that their underlings could hang their wrath over our head. This was different, and that¡­ hmm, that might have implications, though I wasn¡¯t sure yet what they were. I looked at my companions, wondering if they had any more idea than I did about what had just happened, but Faraday just shrugged, and Cherubix was busy waving merrily back at the mayor.


    But we still had to deal with the two military types. The major and captain eyed each other briefly, before the captain shrugged and turned to walk away, saying briefly, ¡°Heh. They¡¯re all yours, ma¡¯am.¡± Looking over his shoulder, he spoke directly to us. ¡°This one already has a job for you lined up, if you¡¯re willing. Come see him in the central guardhouse once she¡¯s done with you; ask around if you get lost.¡±


    Huh. Yeah, something was definitely up. I¡¯d never had an encounter with local officials that started off so warily and ended without at least some kind of token threat.


    Although¡­ Looking at the major, who was calmly watching us with steely brown eyes, I started wondering if that might be because they were just comfortable in the fact that they didn¡¯t need to do any threatening.

 4 - Major

    ¡°How, then, shall we ensure that these fine, upstanding heroes shall remain worthy of the trust we place in them? By ensuring that they are aware that there will always be a sword hanging over their head, ready to fall at a moment¡¯s notice. Henceforth, never again shall these Adventurers be allowed to run rampant!¡±


    - Lord Dolan Khazmarke, Majority Leader and Deepfolk Representative to the Federation House of Worlds, upon the passage of the Independent Armed Contractor Security Act, more commonly known as the ¡®Hellrazer Act.¡¯


    <h4>Major Tor-Harrek¡¯s office, FExCorps headquarters, Bridgetown</h4>


    The major was, I discovered, a collector. Minor artifacts, fragments of stone, and yellowed scraps of parchment were hung all over the walls of her office, each framed or otherwise tastefully presented, with a plaque underneath each presumably detailing what they were. There were a lot of traces left on them, bits of history whispering unintelligible stories, but everything was so faded that I was only slightly tempted to try ¡°borrowing¡± one of them to learn more.


    Ko, well aware of how I could be around old artifacts, gave me a squeeze through the padded cloth shoulderpad he was riding on. <Easy, ratet.>


    I just gave him a scratch under the beak in response, glancing at one of the plaques. I only had a chance to read ¡°Elven stellae, likely in honor of Lenthelia, goddess of the stars and wanderers¡± beneath an ancient fragment of a stone carving, before the major had seated herself behind the desk that dominated the office. Her expression hadn¡¯t budged a bit since we¡¯d first laid eyes on her, and none of my conversation starters had gotten anything more than ¡°We¡¯ll speak in my office.¡± And now that we were in her office, hopefully we could get this over with and then find out about the possibility of work that the guard captain had mentioned.


    Shushing Cherubix¡¯ latest outburst, I turned back towards the major, finding her waiting calmly with a raised eyebrow. ¡°What did you need to speak with us about, ma¡¯am?¡±


    She took a deep breath, then fixed all of us with a hard, brown-eyed stare. ¡°You three are the first in a relatively large influx of adventurers this town is going to be seeing over the next month or so. Congratulations.¡± The deadpan expression rather failed to sell it, I had to say.


    ¡°You should already be familiar with Adventurer¡¯s Guild standards of behavior,¡± I really didn¡¯t appreciate the fact that she looked directly at me for that sentence. ¡°But the mayor asked me to reiterate them, and I want to add on my own personal addendums.¡±


    And, here it comes¡­ I thought to myself.


    ¡°First off, don¡¯t start trouble in town. I and the mayor both have the right to deport you for any kind of misbehavior, and I am authorized to call out a kill-on-sight order on any of you, should I deem it necessary.¡± The threat of spontaneous legalized murder was delivered with absolutely no expression or change in tone of voice, which just made it even more chilling. I''d heard something like it almost a dozen times, by this point, and it still gave me shivers thinking too deeply on the possible consequences of my chosen profession.


    ¡°Also, I am a personal friend of the officer in charge of this sector¡¯s Hellrazer contingent, and have informed him about all of the¡­ unusual adventurers that will be paying Bridgetown a visit in the near future, so if they do get called in they¡¯re going to come loaded for owlbear. Don¡¯t think you can manage to beat down the first responders if and when they show up.¡±


    The fact that she looked at Faraday of all people when she said that was interesting. The man was a big ol¡¯ law-abiding softie, when he wasn¡¯t taking apart things that deserved killing. The only way that he would resist arrest was if they caught him at the end of one of his benders, and even then they¡¯d likely have to do something stupid like threaten to harm a child in order to get his temper up. He was a mopey drunk, not an angry one, thank the gods.


    ¡°Beyond the simple good behavior that I expect from any resident, though, I have one other mandate.¡± She lifted up a finger and pointed it at us like a battlewand. ¡°If you get into trouble outside of town, you need to deal with it - outside. If you come running up with a horde of goblins on your heels, I¡¯ll order the gates shut in your face and the wards set to ¡®fry.¡¯ No offense, but I care a lot more about the safety of the civilians in town than a bunch of ratcatchers. Even if you get inside before I realize what you¡¯ve done, if it¡¯s at all likely to get them to leave the town alone, I will kick your asses back outside for them to tear apart. Don¡¯t,¡± she said, making sure to look each of us in the eyes, ¡°let it come to that.¡±


    Her expression softened noticeably, as she looked at Cherubix and continued, ¡°For you, Ms. Cherubix, a word of warning: the town¡¯s had some problems with the local fey, and some are going to find your presence distinctly off-putting.¡± She cracked a smile, then, which made me blink in surprise - I hadn¡¯t thought she could. ¡°Given your sunny disposition, I doubt that too many will hold your nature against you, but I¡¯d ask you to try to be patient with those that do.¡± The normally-ebullient brownie had been wilting under the stern lecture, but at this her over-sized ears perked up and she smiled slightly back at the major.


    Glancing at me, she said merely, ¡°I trust that I don¡¯t need to add anything regarding your past habits, Ms. Arbodor?¡±


    I rolled my eyes but nodded submissively. ¡°One trip to prison was enough for me, thank you kindly, no matter how short it ended up being.¡± As irritated as I was at having the subject brought up again, she was being unusually polite about it, compared to my past experience.


    She nodded in turn, then turned towards Faraday - and, again, that degree of intensity was not what I¡¯d expected for her to aim at the man. ¡°And you, Mr.¡­ Constance.¡±


    The pause sounded awkward, like she wasn¡¯t sure what to say. Faraday stared at her, a matching look of evaluation in his eyes.


    ¡°How much do you know about me, Major?¡± he asked after a few tense and silent heartbeats.


    ¡°Enough. We¡¯re in an odd situation, being as isolated as we are and so far from the Union front. I don¡¯t get much intel from Central that isn¡¯t relevant to the town¡¯s safety, but I¡¯m cleared for pretty much anything that might impact this outpost. Including,¡± she returned his stare, unblinking, ¡°your full background.¡±


    Faraday was silent for a moment, but then shrugged, making Cherubix bob up and down like a dinghy on a rough sea. ¡°I¡¯d just as soon keep my past in the past, Major. No need for old wounds to be opened, or old names to be brought up. The man I once was¡­ he¡¯s dead, ma¡¯am, and I¡¯d like him to stay that way. I¡¯m here to try to make up for what he did. I hope that I can do some good for this town, while I¡¯m here.¡±


    Wait, what? And she seemed to be buying it, hook line and sinker, like she knew what he was talking about and agreed with him. What the hells, man?


    But that could wait, the major was still talking, and I focused back on the conversation. ¡°So I was led to believe. If none of your previous associates contact you, I won¡¯t concern myself with your past. I just needed to ensure that we understood each other on that.¡±


    Faraday nodded in silence, apparently content to leave it at that.


    She paused then, and the mood in the room lightened notably, though my puzzlement over that odd exchange remained like an itch in a place I couldn¡¯t scratch in public. Cracking that tiny smile again, she continued in a much-less-serious tone, ¡°Well, having gotten that unpleasantness out of the way, I suppose now is the time to give you the newcomer¡¯s briefing.¡±


    She pointed at the closed door to her office. ¡°Take a right as you¡¯re leaving and you¡¯ll find the office of Jiri al-Badr, my head archivist; he¡¯s the one to speak with if you want leads on interesting sites or intel on the nearby terrain - though, fair warning, he can get tetchy if you waste his time. I highly recommend speaking with him to get acquainted with the¡­ oddities of this particular world.¡± She grimaced briefly, but then smoothed her face out and kept speaking.


    ¡°You¡¯ve already met Captain Marahm; any time goblins raid a farm or there¡¯s a mob of skeletons pushing up against Hillside¡¯s wards, he¡¯ll be offering a bounty for dealing with the situation. I¡¯ll expect you to offer your services in those cases with a minimum of fuss and without trying to extort him or the townsfolk.¡± This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    I returned the pointed look she directed at me with a bland smile. Bargaining wasn¡¯t extortion, and civilians rarely opened negotiations by offering everything they were willing to pay to get a job done. Besides, one of us was a paladin - if Faraday¡¯s presence didn¡¯t reassure her that we wouldn¡¯t leave an impoverished widow or orphan to die without being paid, I didn¡¯t know what would. Not that it was worth correcting her about it now, though.


    The major continued. ¡°You should also find plenty of interest in your services from the merchants in town - it¡¯s been almost five years since the last adventurers disappeared out in the wilds, and the crafters and traders here have been starved for the more exotic goods that previous bands brought in. Talk to Jericho Springwold in the general store, she¡¯s got her ear to the ground where that¡¯s concerned.¡±


    ¡°Lastly,¡± she said, her voice shifting back into a much more serious tone, ¡°if you believe you¡¯ve discovered a threat to the town, do not hesitate to inform me of it - I have a budget for exactly such circumstances, and discretion in how to allocate it as a reward for prompt warning of such threats. We don¡¯t know nearly enough about what¡¯s out there, and if you can give me even four hours to call for reinforcements or start an evacuation, I¡¯ll make it well worth your while.¡±


    ¡­ Huh.


    That was new. Ko and I glanced at one another. Sure, we¡¯d saved a village before and gotten rewarded for it, but they only promised us gold after they realized they were in trouble. And especially after our experience with Eghem¡¯s bureaucracy just yesterday¡­ For her to be saying all that meant that she likely had reason to be concerned. Hells, this world might actually be just as bad as the rumors had implied.


    I wasn¡¯t the only one pondering the subject. Cherubix piped up, ¡°Um, are we¡­ likely to find big scary things that could hurt the town?¡± Her huge black eyes were even bigger than usual.


    ¡°No idea.¡± The major¡¯s smile was devoid of humor. ¡°However, given the state that some of the last adventurers came home in - or didn¡¯t, as the case may be - and the fact that we regularly have to defend the outlying villages from fey, undead, goblins, and oversized wildlife, I¡¯m not taking any chances that you all might decide to stay quiet if and when you find something nasty is headed our way.¡±


    Faraday nodded firmly at this, and said ¡°Don¡¯t worry ma¡¯am, if we find anything like that we¡¯ll be sure to inform you as soon as possible.¡± I nodded my agreement, mentally adding ¡°After we haggle up the price a bit, of course.¡± If she was willing to pay for it at all, then she would be willing to bargain.


    She began making the motions to shoo us out of her office, but I raised a hand - something was still niggling at the back of my mind, and she¡¯d seemed... well, relatively helpful after she¡¯d delivered her warnings. ¡°Major, if you don¡¯t mind, could you explain the mayor¡¯s attitude when we arrived?¡± At her questioning glance, I continued, ¡°He looked all set to kick us back through the Bridge right then and there, but then he seemed to change his mind.¡±


    She blew air out of her nose in a quiet snort, and looked down at the desk briefly before back up and meeting my eyes. ¡°The number of adventurers who have registered intent to journey here over the next few months went from zero to over two dozen in just the first month after news of the thirteen Prophecies dropped. Those with clean records are vastly outnumbered by the ones with¡­ issues. You three are relatively tame, in comparison. And I think a lot of that display at the Bridgehead was just that: a show, to convince the civilians who were watching that he¡¯s not worried.¡±


    She rolled her eyes, so quickly I wasn¡¯t sure if I¡¯d actually seen it. ¡°Considering what some of you lot are capable of, he¡¯s got reason to be concerned about panic or, worst case, actual riots if he doesn¡¯t give people reason to think you¡¯re under control.¡± I grimaced in unexpected sympathy, thinking about some of the characters I¡¯d hung out with during my year of training with the Guild. If the scariest of them decided to go rogue¡­ ¡°havoc¡± would be a mild word for the results. There was a reason the Hellrazers were so heavily equipped - they were the ones the Federation relied on to keep adventurers in check, and for a lot of us those expensive and deadly toys were necessary.


    The major had apparently exhausted whatever patience for us she¡¯d possessed. Her expression returned to the emotionless basilisk gaze I¡¯d thought at the beginning of this conversation was her norm. ¡°Which, incidentally, means that you have even more reason to be on your best behavior, to ensure it never comes to that. Something to think on, hmm?¡± She flicked her eyes at the door. ¡°As I said, speak to Jiri before you leave, and Captain Marahm wanted to talk with you once you¡¯re done here. You¡¯re dismissed.¡± And with that she grabbed a stack of papers and started going through them, pretending we were no longer in the room.


    I glanced towards Faraday, only to find that he was out of his chair already and heading towards the door. Scrambling up as gracefully as I could with a hawk on one shoulder and a shortbow slung over the other, I joined him outside as he closed the office door behind us.


    ¡°So. That was unexpected.¡± I said, glancing between him and Cherubix. ¡°Just how much trouble do you think we¡¯re about to walk into, here?¡±


    Faraday returned my look evenly for a moment before shrugging the shoulder that Cherubix wasn¡¯t standing on. ¡°The wilderness might not be as nasty as the rumors we¡¯ve heard suggest, but that doesn¡¯t mean that the town¡¯s safe. I¡¯m guessing that they¡¯re managing to deal with problems as they crop up, but only just, and they don¡¯t know what else is out there. That¡¯s liable to leave any commander on edge and looking for someone to fill in their blind spots.¡± He looked around, then headed towards the door on our right. ¡°Come, let¡¯s talk to the archivist; maybe he can paint a clearer picture for us.¡±


    I grabbed his arm before he could fully turn away, and looked him straight in the eyes with a dead-serious expression on my face. ¡°Yeah, before that though - these ¡®previous associates¡¯ of yours. We¡¯ve been working together for two months, and this is the first I¡¯m hearing about them. Do we need to be worried about someone walking up and fireballing us to get at you?¡±


    His face closed off, but I just glared at him and kept going. ¡°Look, I don¡¯t need to know the whole picture. Your past is your business, even if it¡¯s apparently a lot more interesting than I originally thought. But if you¡¯re not square with me on this particular bit, we¡¯re out. Is whatever-that-was in there going to come back to hurt you, or us?¡± Ko was focusing all of his attention on the man, just as interested in the answer as I was. Cherubix had gone completely still and silent, as if she were afraid that doing anything to draw our attention would turn the conversation¡¯s intensity on her.


    Faraday stared at me for a good five heartbeats before looking to the side and - grudgingly, I could tell - answering. ¡°Not that I¡¯m aware of. The Ministry buried it deep, so anyone who goes looking for the man I used to be should end up convinced that he¡¯s dead.¡± He shook his head, then continued. ¡°Regardless, if someone shows up looking for me, don¡¯t you go getting in their way. If they want revenge, they can take it, far as I¡¯m concerned.¡±


    Wait, ¡®the Ministry¡¯? Curiouser and curiouser, and I had to wonder which part of the federal bureaucracy he¡¯d gotten tangled up with, though I doubted that I¡¯d get an answer if I asked.


    For the most part I¡¯d meant what I¡¯d said - his past was his business, no matter how curious I was, and so far it hadn¡¯t impacted our team at all. But still¡­ he hadn¡¯t said anything about this. Not a word, over two months of working together. That wasn¡¯t necessarily a breach of trust, but it wasn¡¯t something I could just skip over without thinking about it.


    A part of me - the part that had grown up in a poor orphanage with a target on my back because I heard voices that no one else could, voices that whispered other peoples¡¯ secrets that I shouldn¡¯t know - insisted that I couldn¡¯t trust him, that he was lying in order to keep my guard down, so that he could take advantage of that trust later. The rest of me, the parts that understood how fucked-up my head had gotten during those years, that understood what it meant for a paladin to lie like that, told that first voice to shut the hells up and take the man at his word.


    All of this went through my mind in just a heartbeat or two, and his face still hadn¡¯t lost that stoic, earnest look, like he expected me to ream him out and wouldn¡¯t begrudge me the tirade. I looked right back at him and kept my expression schooled to show concern and little else, watching his face for any tells.


    It was a nice face to look at, mind you, even without having reason to be watching it closely. It wasn¡¯t hard to understand how he frequently had company in his room after we¡¯d spent more than a couple days in a town. He¡¯d likely been quite dashing as a younger man; light brown skin, a strong chin, hooked beak of a nose, piercing brown eyes, and an expressive mouth. Now he was in his late thirties or early forties, and the short-cropped black hair and beard were starting to go gray, the skin of his face becoming rough and weathered, and crows-feet deepening around his eyes. The overall effect only enhanced the look of a grizzled, handsome adventurer, though. The rippling muscles sure didn¡¯t hurt in attracting the ladies¡¯ attention, either.


    I¡¯d wondered, when we first met, why someone his age would join the Guild to start a new career. Now I might have an inkling of an answer, if he really was running from something in his past.


    The debate kept going through my head - to trust him, or to drop this newfound partnership and move on somewhere else without him? In the end, what decided me was that brief conversation we¡¯d had outside the Eghem bursar¡¯s office. If he could extend trust to me, knowing my past, then I¡¯d return the favor. Hells, he¡¯d kept me alive often enough over the last two months, I¡¯d even watch his back if someone came for him.


    If we did get fireballed by someone he knew, though, I wasn¡¯t above using him as a shield.


    I broke the staring contest, looking around for the door to the archivist¡¯s office. ¡°Alright, big guy, I¡¯ll leave it be. Just don¡¯t expect me to let some vengeful ex-lover or whatever try to stab you without a fight. Nobody shanks a partner of mine if I can help it.¡±


    Cherubix, who so far had stayed quiet on Faraday¡¯s shoulder, glancing worriedly between the two of us as we¡¯d been having that conversation, broke into her normal happy grin at this. ¡°Hey, yeah! Nobody stabs you without our say-so!¡± She swatted at his head, and he took the blow with a small, relieved smile, nodding at both of us with a look of gratitude on his face.


    I just patted him on the arm, leaving the subject be now that we¡¯d all had our say, and turned to walk towards the archivist¡¯s door.

 5 - Archivist

    Rule 57: Always try to make friends with local librarians, archaeologists, and hunters. They know more about the area than you do, and if anyone is going to be able to tell you about the weird and deadly quirks of the local monsters or the twisty story behind that ruin you¡¯re about to explore, it¡¯s them.


    - ¡°1001 Rules for Adventuring,¡± standard issue to all new Adventurer¡¯s Guild initiates.


    <h4>Archivist al-Badr¡¯s office, FExCorps headquarters, Bridgetown</h4>


    I¡¯d thought that the major was a collector, and found it unusual for a high-ranking military officer to have so many artifacts on display in her office. She was nothing compared to her archivist, although given his profession I didn¡¯t find that quite so surprising.


    Racks of stone, wood, pottery, and bone objects lined the walls. A long table covered with parchments and two arcane contraptions I couldn¡¯t identify in varying states of disassembly dominated the center of the ¡°office,¡± which in reality was more like a large storage room filled with a museum¡¯s cast-offs.


    The place smelled of dust and clay, with a faint undertone of wet and rotting wood, and I immediately shot a warning look at Cherubix, sitting on Faraday¡¯s shoulder, muttering out of the side of my mouth, ¡°No cleaning without permission, got it?¡±


    Judging by the way she¡¯d been sniffing the air and looking around, she¡¯d been thinking along the same lines I was. Though she pouted a bit under my glare, she nodded and put her hands back in her lap. We¡¯d been over this before, after the incident with the dust mage and the mop.


    I¡¯d just begun looking for the archivist when a high-pitched, reedy voice piped up from behind one of the far shelves. ¡°I told Hollins no visitors today! And, naturally, that lout just lets you in. Well, you can turn right on around and leave, I¡¯m busy!¡±


    I peered towards the shadows around the shelving, trying to find the source of the voice. ¡°Ah, Mr. al-Badr, yes? We¡¯re adventurers, new in town, and Major Tor-Harrek told us to ask you about¡­¡± I looked back over my shoulder at Faraday for confirmation. ¡°... the ¡®peculiarities of this planet,¡¯ I think were her words.¡± Faraday shrugged and nodded, and I turned back to the table, in time to see a short form emerge from behind the rack and walk towards us.


    Starlit heavens, I thought. A ratfolk. Today¡¯s just full of surprises, isn¡¯t it?


    You didn¡¯t see many of them outside of their underground hive-cities, and it was apparently a fifty/fifty chance that they were either civilized and interested in trading or murderous and interested in eating you, depending on which world you were visiting. I¡¯d never laid eyes on one, myself, though the Guild¡¯s curriculum had included a lecture on their social mores to ensure nobody committed any political faux-pas. Now I was wishing I¡¯d paid more attention in that class.


    Short as a dwarf, but skinny where dwarves were stout, he stood about four feet tall and might have weighed seventy pounds. The robe he wore hung loose on his frame, but his brown fur was lustrous and his beady black eyes were focused on us. His face was, as the common name for his species implied, that of a giant rat, with long black whiskers and round pink ears. A pink tail covered in brown fuzz flicked from side to side behind him as he stalked towards us on digitigrade legs, his claws making faint ticking noises against the stone floor with every step.


    ¡°Hmph. So you are. Fine, fine, better to brief you so you know what you¡¯re in for.¡± He pointed a clawed hand at us. ¡°But no stupid questions, I want to get back to my work as fast as possible, are we clear?¡±


    Yep, those were definitely rat fangs showing when he talked. This was just so odd - I was used to dealing with rats in either a ¡°kill them and I¡¯ll give you some coppers for every tail you bring back¡± or an ¡°I don¡¯t care what you do just get them out of my granary!¡± kind of way. Having a giant bipedal rat talking to me, with a considerable amount of contempt no less, was putting me on my back foot a bit. Ko seemed to be having similar issues, judging by the unease I was sensing from him.


    I didn¡¯t let the smile falter, though. Doesn¡¯t matter if it¡¯s a crotchety ratfolk or blustery and self-important merchants, a smile makes people think you¡¯re willing to work with them, gives them reason to hear you out. I did, however, clamp my lips together so as not to show teeth. Ratfolk interpreted a wide grin as a threat display. That much of the lecture I could remember.


    ¡°Anything you can share would, of course, be appreciated, sir,¡± I said. ¡°Is there somewhere we could sit and -¡±


    ¡°Here¡¯s fine,¡± was the abrupt response, though his demeanor did seem to have become slightly less hostile. ¡°We won¡¯t be talking long. I assume you¡¯re as ignorant as every other bunch of delvers who¡¯ve come through?¡±


    Ugh, so it was going to be like that. Fine, I¡¯ll play dumb, just tell us what we need to know, please. ¡°Likely, yes, though we each have our own specialties. Please, educate us.¡± Glancing at Faraday, I saw his mouth quirk up at the phrasing. Normally I wasn¡¯t so tolerant of this kind of abrasive attitude, but we were still new here, and were planning on staying for long enough that I wasn¡¯t willing to throw away goodwill unnecessarily.


    ¡°Bah, at least you¡¯re cognizant of it.¡± He glanced between the three of us, narrowing his eyes slightly at Cherubix, before stepping back and hopping up to sit on the edge of the table. ¡°All right, the main thing, and the bit I¡¯m sure the major wanted me to tell you, is that for some reason the people who used to live on this world left behind a collection of relics - we call them wardstones. How and why they were made, we don¡¯t know, but their effects have caused us headaches ever since FExCorps first crossed the Bridge over here.


    ¡°Each wardstone creates a region-wide jamming field, significantly impeding any kind of teleportation, message, or scrying spell for dozens of miles around it. Worse yet, they all interact with and amplify each others¡¯ fields, and the net effect is to completely shut down any of those magics at a range of more than a hundred feet or so.¡±


    He glared at us, as if he blamed us personally for the affront. ¡°I shouldn¡¯t have to tell you how annoying and difficult life gets when you can¡¯t even send a Message spell that a goblin raiding force has been spotted; and you can forget sending relief forces via teleport circle, too. Most of our operational handbook had to be rewritten in order to deal with this place, and the high command isn¡¯t willing to risk people very far beyond the walls when we aren¡¯t able to support them.¡±


    My eyes had gotten very wide as he¡¯d explained, realization after realization slamming into me. Sundered Hells, it¡¯s no wonder the Major¡¯s looking to pay people to give her warning about dangers. It¡¯s like they¡¯re stuck in a low-grade warzone - they can¡¯t see anything that might be coming their way. Can¡¯t send men out without leaving them on their own and unable to report back reliably. Starlight and Sunrise, no wonder the rumors in the Guild are that this place is cursed.


    A few months after we¡¯d signed on with the Guild and finished our training, Ko and I spent two weeks clearing out a plague locust infestation in the middle of an actual warzone, a continent-wide slave revolt that the Federation had refused to take a side in. Lots of silver flowing around for freelancers like us, but a nasty bit of business in general. Both sides had kept up jamming fields to hamper the other¡¯s ability to communicate, spy, and attack - there was nothing like somebody hot-dropping a dragonborn heavy assault team on top of your commander¡¯s tent to make the survivors say ¡°nobody¡¯s teleporting anywhere.¡± Ko¡¯s ability to fly messages back and forth had been a godsend, during that whole mess, and I¡¯d never been more scared of losing him. Hopefully this place wasn¡¯t as full of crossbow-happy soldiers looking to shoot anything that moved. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.


    On the other hand, these wardstones offered us an opportunity; if we could go out, do our thing, and return with both loot and valuable information¡­ My smile was no longer forced. This world had ¡°profit potential¡± written all over it in silver - no, in gold letters!


    Well. Provided we didn¡¯t die, of course. Gotta live through it if you want to spend your loot.


    al-Badr was watching us as we thought that over. Faraday was looking as stunned as I was. What little information the Guild had on this world had not included these details, and someone was going to catch at least one Hell¡¯s worth of trouble for that failure if I had anything to say about it. Cherubix, sweet bewildered fae that she was, didn¡¯t seem to get the implications at first, but then I saw the glowbulb go off in her head and she said ¡°Ooooh, so, like, that¡¯s why you need us! Right?¡± She grinned, pleased with her deduction.


    The ratfolk¡¯s eyes narrowed into slits at her. ¡°Impertinent, but correct,¡± he growled. ¡°My own efforts to map the surrounding area and pinpoint any sources of trouble have been¡­ less than effective, even after seven years of trying.¡± He jabbed a clawed finger at us. ¡°I will have you know that I am one of the pre-eminent diviners in the sector! But...¡±


    At that he sighed, and his ears and whiskers drooped a little, and I felt a little flutter inside at how cute he suddenly looked. Not that I would ever tell him that, of course. ¡°But there¡¯s damn-all I can do when none of my spells can get clear resolution beyond a mile or two outside the walls,¡± he said. "Even with the materials I purchased off of some of the past adventurers after they came back from expeditions, I can only create a small amount of magical sympathy, enough to get a vague sense of direction and a general feel for the elemental balance of the area.¡±


    He glanced over his shoulder at one of the shelves, then hopped off the table and padded over to it, his claws making that tick-ing noise. Reaching up, he snagged what looked like an intricately-carved stone egg the size of my head, and then from another shelf a long rolled-up piece of parchment.


    Setting both on the table in front of us and unrolling the parchment, he turned back to us. ¡°This is what I have for a map of the area. For what it¡¯s worth, I¡¯ll be happy to make you all a copy of it.¡± Looking down at the map, I was¡­ frankly not very impressed, and could see why he was so defensive about his abilities. While the town, the three villages, and their immediate surroundings were clearly marked, along with some mountains far to the east and west and a large blob labeled ¡°Dwarfstone¡± to the south, there was precious little actually present on it.


    ¡°This,¡± he said, gesturing at the egg, ¡°is a wardstone. Note the exquisitely-shaped runes and the interlocking latticework of its structure. It wasn¡¯t carved, it was grown into this shape, and its enchantment emits from the very structure of the stone, rather than a spell laid into it after it was formed. If the louts who brought it back hadn¡¯t damaged the lower portion of it when they extracted it,¡± and at that he tilted it up so that we could see the chisel marks and cracks that covered the bottom of the oval object, ¡°I might even have been able to hook it up to a mana crystal and gotten it running again to figure out how it works.¡±


    He glared at the thing, as if it offended him on a personal level. ¡°Even damaged and inoperable, it¡¯s still a marvel of magical engineering, and I¡¯ve sent the other one they recovered to Central for further analysis.¡± He snorted at that, and muttered under his breath, ¡°For all the good that¡¯s done.¡±


    He shook his head, returning to the lecture. ¡°At any rate, we¡¯ve placed a bounty on these things. Any you bring back, intact or in pieces, will get you five hundred gold denarii.¡±


    ¡°Five hund-!¡± I broke off, shocked to my core at that, and exchanged glances with the rest of my party, who looked equally stunned. That was enough for a family of four to live off of in comfort for five years, maybe ten if they were on one of the more distant worlds and thrifty. For adventurers, that was a bounty that you only saw on seriously dangerous threats, like a wyvern nest or a trollish warchief. Whooo, yeah, this place definitely had opportunities.


    al-Badr was just scowling at me, though. ¡°Indeed. There¡¯s a reason for that high a bounty, unfortunately - previous bands have only located three of them, and while their removal or destruction seemed to alleviate some of the jamming temporarily, there were enough of the stones in the lands beyond those three that the cumulative effect still prevented effective scrying or communication.¡± The scowl grew into a snarl, and he hissed out the rest, ¡°Those idiots didn¡¯t even tell us where they found them, either! I had to piece together from rumors and eyewitnesses to a drunken diatribe that the one they found in the forest to the north was hidden inside a black stone pyramid. Beyond that we have no clue where you should start looking.¡±


    He visibly spent a second to calm down, then continued, ¡°The laws governing Guild and Corps interactions mean I can¡¯t force you to give up any information on what you find out there, unless I have credible evidence that it directly threatens civilian lives. However,¡± the glare he sent our way was full of pent-up fury, ¡°if you lot intend to keep your findings secret the way they did, you will have to go about your business without my help, or that of any other FExCorps personnel if I can do anything about it. Are we clear on that?!¡±


    I just stared at him blankly. Why would they not have shared what they found¡­? Cooperating with the local authorities, unless they were blatantly corrupt or trying to use an adventuring party for their own political purposes, was standard Guild procedure.


    It also made a lot of sense, from a practical standpoint - the adventurers get information, money, and a willingness to put up with heavily-armed and dangerous strangers in town, and the local sheriff or mayor or whatever gets some of their thornier problems solved. Talking with the person in charge, telling them what you found in the haunted mansion on the hill and asking them what they know about the Ring of Spookiness that the ghoul inside was wearing, was Adventuring 101. Otherwise you had to go to an enchanter and pay them to figure out whether the thing was safe to wear, or cursed and likely to kill you, and never learned that there was a relative of the ghoul who would pay good money for the ring, cursed or not.


    Then again, this town¡¯s only been here for a bit less than two decades. Maybe they just didn¡¯t see the point, if the locals didn¡¯t have centuries of historical knowledge to draw on? That still didn¡¯t explain it, though; regardless of any local knowledge they might or might not gain, they should have wanted to build up good will. What could have made them so unwilling to share information?


    I shook my head, breaking off that line of thought. Doesn¡¯t matter, we still need to be on FExCorps¡¯ good side. Speaking out loud, I reassured al-Badr, ¡°Crystal clear, Master Archivist. I cannot speak for other parties, but for ours at least,¡± and here I glanced at Faraday and Cherubix, making sure we were on the same page, ¡°we see no reason to hold any information back, and would be delighted to assist in your efforts to learn more about the town¡¯s environs. For the right price, of course.¡± The last was said with as polite of a ¡°business is business¡± smile as I could manage.


    The ratfolk¡¯s whiskers twitched, and much of the tension went out of him. He really hadn¡¯t liked being kept out of the loop by those other groups. ¡°Yes, yes, of course, if you¡¯ll actually help, then I can get clearance for a budget to reward you. Would you be opposed to taking soil and flora samples? Having a catalogue of such would improve my ability to properly map the areas you move through.¡±


    Smile firmly fixed on my face, I got down to haggling. Yeah, this place definitely had potential.

 6 - Captain

    ¡°The Thirteenth Army gained its cognomen of ¡®Salamanders¡¯ over thirty consecutive years of deployments across seven different worlds. During that period, every single legion within the army faced a Magister-level pyromancer at least once, and the army as a whole suffered twice the normal level of casualties, half of which were caused by flame magic, dragons, or alchemical fire. This pattern continued even after the army¡¯s high command began actively trying to avoid sending their men into action against such foes.


    Veterans of the Thirteenth are, perhaps understandably, known to have extremely negative reactions towards flame magic, and frequently suffer from pyrophobia. This would normally be grounds for mockery amongst the Federation armed forces, except for the fact that the Salamanders routinely send fire-starting pranksters to the nearest infirmary.¡±


    - ¡°Bellatorem et Mundos,¡± by Khasai Melkamu, military historian


    Town Guard Headquarters, Bridgetown


    We¡¯d dumped our stuff at a charming inn called the Golden Flagon that was just off the central square, and headed out to find Captain Marahm and the job that he supposedly had for us. Ko took off into the sky as we left the inn, saying that he needed to get an idea of what the local rodent population looked like, and that I should call him if he were needed.


    Walking the streets of the town reinforced what we¡¯d learned so far - Bridgetown was a modestly prosperous agricultural settlement, but one facing more than its fair share of threats. The few farmers walking around were wearing much bigger weapons on their belts than I was used to seeing, and not a few of the merchant-class folks were carrying swords or hatchets. Moreover, damn few of those weapons were show-pieces, and I spotted a number that looked like they¡¯d seen recent use.


    The townsfolk did a bit of looking at us, in return. Cherubix drew the most stares - some of them decidedly unfriendly - but she returned them with a cheerful wave whenever she spotted any gawkers. Faraday and I got our own share, though for a while I was a bit confused by their expressions. There was the usual distrust of strangers that I was used to, and a bit of disgust and anger at us for traveling with a fey. But after a while, I started noticing a more wistful expression on people¡¯s faces, one that I had seen directed at me few enough times during my current career that I could count them on one hand.


    Hope.


    Which was odd, as I was used to adventurers being tolerated most of the time, reviled when they acted up or did something like revealing that the mayor was secretly a demonic cultist or whatever, and occasionally celebrated when they averted or killed a disaster. If these people were recognizing us as adventurers, and they were reassured by that, then what did it mean for what was waiting for us outside the walls?


    When I mentioned as much to Faraday, he just chuckled, with a grim little smile on his face. ¡°You¡¯ve not been in many places under siege, have you?¡± he asked. ¡°If I¡¯m right, these folk have been mostly safe the past few years, but they¡¯ve not been able to really expand or feel secure. When there are monsters in the woods, or raiders lying in wait just beyond the horizon, even if you never see them yourself you still know they¡¯re there.¡±


    He smiled at a passing young woman who was giving him what she thought was a subtle appraisal, making her blush and skitter off, before continuing. ¡°I¡¯d guess that since the last bunch from the Guild disappeared, these folk haven¡¯t been getting as many goods from the wild, and casualties have gone up on the outlying farms. If us being here means more coin in everyone¡¯s pockets and a couple fewer deaths each year, then aye - no wonder they¡¯re happy to see us.¡± He gave me a bit of a smirk. ¡°And, frankly, it means more work for us, so don¡¯t go looking the gift horse in the mouth, hm?¡±


    I just grunted in response, and resolved to do what I could to preserve that feeling of preemptive gratitude. I¡¯d been run out of a village ahead of a lynch mob once, on account of a ghost that told some uncomfortable secrets about members of the headman¡¯s family, and you don¡¯t forget something like that. I¡¯d spent long enough as a perpetual stranger wherever I went that the idea of not having to justify my presence, of not being constantly wary of a sudden shift in public opinion, felt¡­ odd. Nice, but odd, like I couldn¡¯t really wrap my head around the idea.


    It was only a minute or two of walking later that we were standing in front of the guard station. A handful of men and women in uniform - brown gambesons with the town¡¯s crest on a badge over the left breast - were visible sparring in the training field beside the structure, and a beefy-looking fellow with a poleaxe held at parade rest was standing watch next to the front door.


    As he noticed us and turned to give us a once-over, I took a deep breath, put on my ¡°dealing with authorities¡± smile, and walked over. Before I could get a word out though, the guard jerked his head towards the doorway and said ¡°Captain¡¯s expecting yeh. Go on in, then, he¡¯ll be in his office.¡±


    I blinked, my smile slipping a bit in my surprise, and heard Cherubix stifling a giggle behind me. Sparing her a brief glare over my shoulder, I gave the man a nod and proceeded through the door. A quick conversation with the bored-looking officer behind a big desk covered in parchment pointed us towards the captain¡¯s office, and we made our way over.


    The captain¡¯s office was a bit of a let-down after the previous two persons-of-interest we¡¯d visited, honestly. Neat and well-organized, with a single plaque on the wall and a collection of filing cabinets bracketing what was at this point obviously a standard-issue desk that matched the ones we¡¯d seen in the entryway of the station, and a couple of rough wooden chairs that looked decidedly uncomfortable to sit in. Boring as hell, basically.


    The captain himself was situated behind his desk and had looked up as we trooped in, nodding at the officer who¡¯d shadowed us. ¡°Excellent, thank you Klause. This one will see to them from here; you can get back to work.¡±


    He was much more interesting to look at than his office. Big, in that svelte way that catfolk warriors tend to be, with plenty of muscle but not in a way that would make him look bulky. His mane was well-groomed but kept relatively short, which if I recalled correctly was a common adaptation for Federation military service. Though, it was definitely not military regulation - he¡¯d had streaks of it dyed a bright crimson, contrasting with the dull brown color of his fur and his sharp golden eyes. Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators!


    The dominant feature of his lion-like face was the large burn scar that stretched across the side of his left cheek and jaw. Whatever gave him that had been nasty, and the overall effect, added to the couple of other scars I could see on his arms and hands, and the chunk missing from one ear, was to imply that this guy had seen a fair amount of action. Hells, he might have actually faced a dragon, for all I knew.


    After the door had been closed behind us and we¡¯d gotten settled in some of the chairs, the captain got right down to business.


    ¡°This one assumes that the Major gave you the usual speech about the Hellrazers, not causing trouble, blah blah blah, yes?¡± There was a twinkle in his eye as he said it, though his expression remained serious. I just rolled my eyes and nodded.


    ¡°Good. Then this one will also assume that you don¡¯t need to hear it a second time. However,¡± his expression twisted into one of irritation, his ears flattening, ¡°based on past experience this one thinks that they failed to explain something else, and he would rather get into it now rather than later.¡±


    He steepled his fingers in front of him, claws clicking against each other. ¡°You have heard from the Major and her colleagues about these ¡®wardstones¡¯ - the reasons why the town has not expanded, and why FexCorps has not sent men out to explore, yes?¡± He paused and waited for us to nod. ¡°Good. You are also, this one thinks, wondering why nobody informed you of this before you came here, yes?¡± Another round of nods, with myself and Faraday looking at him expectantly. That was a mystery that I was very curious about.


    ¡°In short, there is an Interdict placed by Central on the wardstones¡¯ existence, and what they do.¡± And the bastard paused, whiskers smirking as he took in our expressions.


    I let out a faint groan at the word ¡°Interdict.¡± Faraday remained mostly stoic, but a faint crease between his eyebrows showed that he wasn¡¯t entirely happy about the news, either.


    I was not looking forward to the explanation for that, but at least it explained why the Guild hadn¡¯t told us. Even if they knew - not a guarantee, Interdicts were supposedly infallible, though you shouldn¡¯t take anything you hear about ¡°secret¡± government magic without a hefty pinch of salt - they wouldn¡¯t be willing to spill anything under Interdict in a way that might get back to the Feds.


    ¡°Yes, exactly,¡± the captain continued after letting his news drop with an almost audible thud. ¡°The best guess of our friends in FExCorps is that there¡¯s some sort of eldritch abomination buried or imprisoned here that the previous residents felt obliged to create the wardstones to contain.¡± He raised an eyebrow at us. ¡°You can see why they would want news of such a¡­ thorough imprisonment to remain off the headlines outside of our fair little town, yes?¡±


    I nodded, and was about to ask a question when Cherubix beat me to it. ¡°Wait, wait! If the wardstones are keeping something locked up, then why are we supposed to be bringing them back to Jiri?¡± She looked at the two of us, obviously wondering if she was missing something. ¡°Shouldn¡¯t we leave them alone, then?¡±


    I just turned back to the captain and raised an eyebrow. He rolled his eyes and went on. ¡°Yes, well, the logic goes that the last three which were removed didn¡¯t cause anything terrible to happen, so maybe their presence isn¡¯t necessary anymore.¡± He shrugged. ¡°This one cannot speak for the higher-ups, he just knows that they have a tendency to forget about the folks who have to do the fighting, yes? He has had to deal with others from the Guild who became very¡­ frustrated that they could not discuss this with their colleagues, and wished to get that out of the way sooner rather than later.¡±


    He sighed. ¡°This one has his hands full dealing with the town¡¯s security; If you help with that, rather than running off into the wilderness after these,¡± his voice shifted into a sarcastic imitation of a bard¡¯s most self-important tones ¡°¡®mysteeeerious artifacts of power¡¯ and likely dying out there like the last lot, then this one will see what he can do to make it worth your while. Does that sound reasonable?¡±


    I smiled, glancing over at Faraday and Cherubix, who nodded and grinned respectively. ¡°Yes, certainly, we would be happy to help. Ah, I believe that you said you had a job for us?¡± Because, as much as I appreciated the explanation, we did need to pay for our tab at the inn, after all.


    ¡°Indeed, indeed, this one simply wished to prevent another tantr- ah, discussion about the presence of the Interdict.¡± He opened a drawer and pulled out a folder. ¡°One of the farmers out in Goldenrod - that¡¯s the name of the village southeast of town - says that he¡¯s missing two cows. This one¡¯s scouts haven¡¯t spotted anything, but they have found goblin tracks in the area around the farms.¡±


    He scowled, scrunching his nose up and baring a bit of fang. ¡°This one is hesitant to send out a large number of men after such - the little pests can blend back into the grass and hills if they spot a large force coming, but they¡¯re dangerous enough that this one is also leery of sending small patrols into the area where they can be picked off one by one.¡± The gaze he directed at us was expectant. ¡°You are ranked fairly well, according to the Guild. This one thinks to himself, ¡®why not see if these new adventurers can deal with the problem?¡¯ And so, he has found some silver - fifty denarii to scout and return with information, or three hundred if you find the two cows and ensure that the thieves won¡¯t take any more.¡±


    Oh, so that¡¯s how it¡¯s going to be? Well, an audition¡¯s an audition, but that didn¡¯t mean I was going to settle for two-thirds our usual rate. ¡°Well, we would certainly be happy to accommodate you, but I am afraid that we would need more silver, and a more concrete description of what you will accept as ¡®dealing with¡¯ the thieves.¡± I raised an eyebrow and gave him a blade-thin smile. ¡°We would both hate to ruin a new business relationship because of a¡­ misunderstanding of a technicality, yes?¡±


    ¡°Ehm,¡± was all he said, before twitching his ears and giving me a small smile. ¡°Yes, this one can see how that might be a problem. Perhaps¡­ hm, one hundred to scout; we can use the three hundred as a floor, and go up from there if-¡±


    He was interrupted by the door slamming open and a watchman shouting, ¡°Sir! There¡¯s been an attack, out by Greentree. Gremlins. Miss Hogsworthy is tending to Corporal Jackson and the kid who made it back, but the boy¡¯s father is still missing.¡± I could see a number of officers putting armor on through the open doorway.


    The faint smile had vanished from the captain¡¯s scarred face, replaced by a thunderous scowl. ¡°Hellfire. All right, you lot,¡± he said, looking at us as he stood up from his desk. ¡°Change of plans. That offer¡¯s still on the table, but this one must go. Come with, and he may find reason to give you another job. Or, stay here and do whatever, he does not care, but get out of his office either way.¡± So saying, he started grabbing his own armor from out of the closet.


    I turned back to my companions. Cherubix was dancing from one foot to the other, rubbing her hands together in anticipation of some action, so I didn¡¯t need to ask whether she wanted to go. I raised an eyebrow at Faraday, and he just shrugged.


    ¡°What¡¯d I tell you?¡± he said under his breath, getting out of his chair and heading for the door. ¡°More business for us.¡±

 7 - Ladybird

    ¡°Oh, sure, normally gremlins ain¡¯t that bad. Wee little fuckers, no real threat if you can catch ¡®em alone and in the open. When you¡¯re facing a dozen of ¡®em, though, it don¡¯t really matter that they barely come up to your knee - you and your mates can take out half of em lickety-split, but that still leaves the others to come in, kneecap you, and then tear your throat out while you¡¯re rolling on the ground.¡±


    - Padme Kenderson, former adventurer


    Greentree


    The trip out to the lovely (if rather fortified) farming village of Greentree was less bucolic and relaxing than I¡¯d hoped for when I spied the place from the Bridgehead, what with the pace we were moving at being a brisk jog and us keeping the company of a bunch of grim-faced guardsmen. Cherubix, being herself, kept trying to cheer them up with jokes and terrible puns, but their smiles didn¡¯t last long before slipping back into worried frowns. Eventually, though, we made it to a small house on the edge of the village, just inside the walls.


    On stepping inside I got a strong whiff of blood and magic. Marahm had beelined right towards the room where they were keeping the patients, but I stopped to take in the scene. The magic and blood-scent were coming from the makeshift hospital bed, so nothing unexpected there. There were a half-dozen guardsmen and -women standing around, grim-faced, some checking their weapons while others just sat in brooding silence. A woman - who I took to be one of the actual residents of the house, given that she was the only civilian I could see - was sitting in a chair next to the door of the sickroom, wringing her hands and looking devastated.


    I glanced at Faraday and asked, quietly, ¡°You want to take the lead on this? If they¡¯ve got injured then your tricks¡¯re more likely to make things go smoothly than mine.¡±


    He nodded in response, reaching up and moving Cherubix down to the ground. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, my friend, but if they¡¯ve been attacked by gremlins then you¡¯re like as not to spook them. Still and quiet until we know the lay of this, aye?¡± The brownie solemnly nodded in response, before padding back outside. The feeling of her presence stopped moving just on the other side of the threshold, out of sight, and I could sense her hunkering down and drawing into herself. I knew that we couldn¡¯t leave her be for too long before her irrepressible tendencies took over, but for all her fey nature Cherubix had a huge heart, and she loved kids. She might not like being excluded for now, but she was willing to be patient for a bit if it meant not scaring a child.


    Faraday moved up to the doorway of the sickroom, knocking gently. ¡°Captain, may I be of service? My skills in medicine are minor, but I can call on the Light for healing, if that would be helpful.¡±


    Instead of the captain, a cool, clipped, feminine voice answered him. ¡°Oh, a cleric? Yes, good. Come, I¡¯ve almost got the muscle fibers aligned; your help would speed this up immensely.¡±


    He moved into the room and soon after I felt the familiar bloom of his magic, twining alongside the unfamiliar sense of the strange magic I¡¯d felt walking in - the healer¡¯s, apparently. Nature magic, if I didn¡¯t miss my guess, though without spending more time investigating it I couldn¡¯t tell what flavor.


    I poked my head around the doorway to find two beds, each occupied, and four people around the room - the captain talking with his guard in one bed, and Faraday, the lady healer, and a frazzled-looking young guardsman who was clearly out of his depth surrounding a boy in his early teens who occupied the other bed.


    While the guardsman seemed to be only lightly injured, the kid who Faraday and the healer were working on looked like he¡¯d been cut up pretty badly - I could see multiple fresh-healed scars across his body, with lots of blood streaks to prove how bad they¡¯d been. Poor thing probably passed out from blood loss. What Faraday and the healer were working on at the moment, their hands surrounded by faint emerald and golden light, was a deep-looking gash in his back, which had stopped bleeding but was still gaping open.


    Smart. Healing that kind of deep muscle wound too quick was liable to cause long-term weakness, but now that they had two healers - one to pour in the magic, the other to keep an eye on the muscle - it would, as the lady said, make things go a lot faster and smoother.


    I left them to it and drifted over to the captain and his man, who¡¯d obviously gotten sliced up as well to judge by the scars and blood streaks, but seemed in good enough shape to give a report. As I got close enough to listen in, he was getting to what sounded like the important part.


    ¡°Then all we could see was the blue and red lights, sir. I managed to snap out of it when they started cutting me, but Carter and Harvey were just standing there drooling while the buggers sliced them up. I tried to fight, sir, I did, but they were all around us and I didn¡¯t get more than one swing in before there were three of the white things with blades coming for me and I grabbed Carter and -¡± At that he broke down and started hyperventilating. Physically, he might be fine, but it sounded like the guy was gonna be seeing that in his nightmares for a while.


    Captain Marahm looked up at me as he gently patted his man¡¯s shoulder, murmuring reassurances. His gaze was solemn but I could see the burning anger in his eyes. Not gonna lie, I didn¡¯t really appreciate hearing about things that put people under what sounded like a Hypnotize spell and then ¡®sliced them up,¡¯ either.


    ¡°So, what are you going to be sending us to kill?¡± I said, keeping my face somber and my tone soft and even, to avoid stressing the corporal even more. ¡°I cannot say that I recognize the things, but¡­¡± I smiled, blade-thin. ¡°They certainly sound like a nasty little pest, yes? What good fortune that we are skilled at dealing with such.¡±


    The cat-man snorted, then shot a worried glance at his corporal before gesturing me outside into the living room.


    Once we¡¯d left the bedroom, he started explaining the situation. ¡°There is a grove a few miles outside of the village. The trees are mostly blue oaks, but scattered amongst them are fruit trees. The fruits are magical, with healing properties, though apparently only a few are on the branch at any time. This one has never been there, but the farmers and this one¡¯s men who have been swear that the place is haunted - they don¡¯t know by what, only that something watches them whenever they go there. It doesn¡¯t object to them picking fruit, but they don¡¯t linger.¡± He sighed. ¡°Beasts do not go near there, and so this one had thought it relatively safe to send a single man with those two when they requested an escort to go pick some. Corporal Jackson is one of this one¡¯s best rangers, trail-wise and able to spot signs that a predator is about, and good with a blade or spear as well.¡±


    The resigned expression transformed into an irritated scowl. ¡°This one did not consider that gremlins would take up residence, though, and certainly not in such numbers that Jackson would be unable to fight back effectively.¡±


    I nodded, then motioned him towards the front door so that we could continue our chat outside, at the same time sending a pulse down my link to Ko. ¡°Which direction is the grove, Captain? I would like to send Ko out to get the lay of the land, and to see if he can spot anything out of the ordinary.¡±


    He blinked, his ears twitching, and then held up a hand to block the sunlight as he stepped out the door. ¡°Ko? Ah, yes, your file did mention that your familiar was useful for scouting. It should be¡­¡± he turned around, orienting himself, until he was pointing just north of east. ¡°About there, this one thinks. It shouldn¡¯t be hard to spot, it¡¯s the only old-growth south of the forest.¡±


    I had set Ko to flying around to keep an eye out for any dangers, just in case, but he¡¯d stayed close by enough so that he came in for a landing just as the captain was finishing his directions, settling on the bracer of my right arm, talons gripping hard enough for me to feel through the thick leather.


    ¡°Heya. So, how much of that did you get?¡± I said to him.


    <Woods outside the village, east of here? Saw it. Big thing, two miles or so wide. Odd leaves, different from the forest. What¡¯s going on, ratet?>


    ¡°Gremlins, just like we thought, and they¡¯ve likely holed up in the grove. Scout it out for us, please? Don¡¯t go in, just skirt the outside to make sure there¡¯s nothing lurking before we get into the trees. Sound good?¡±


    <Can do. If I see any, want me to hunt them?>


    ¡°No, we don¡¯t know what they can do, and there¡¯s no need to take the risk. Thank you for the offer, though. Go, fly safe, we¡¯ll be heading that way in a bit.¡± So saying, I threw the arm he was resting on upwards to give him a bit of a boost and he took off, spiraling up into the sky heading eastward.


    After watching him fly off for a few heartbeats, I turned around towards the still and silent brownie sitting curled up next to the house¡¯s doorway, eyes closed in her fey equivalent of meditation. ¡°Cheri?¡± I called out quietly. ¡°Cherubix? We¡¯ve got a job, you can-¡±


    Her eyes popped open before I¡¯d gotten her name out the second time, turning towards me and smiling that disturbingly large, childlike grin. ¡°Yeah! I¡¯m here! Watcha got? Are we doing something? Oh please tell me we¡¯re doing something, it¡¯s been forever!¡± So saying, she bounced up and landed on my shoulder, blasting my ears with the last sentence. I was not Faraday, big muscly hunk of man that he is, and so her leap nearly staggered me before I caught my balance.


    Inwardly, I sighed. This was what happened when we had to ask her to be quiet and let us do stuff without her. She made up for the lack of ambient enthusiasm with interest added on top. (Also, had she forgotten that we¡¯d literally done a sewer delve just yesterday?! Gods...)


    Outwardly, I was still all smiles, though I made a gesture to try to get her to lower the volume. ¡°Yes, well, the captain here¡± I gestured toward Marahm, who seemed rather amused at the whole thing, ¡°was describing the magic grove that seemingly needs to be cleared of gremlins. We¡¯re all going to need to know what we¡¯re walking into, so I thought it time to wake you up and get you up to speed.¡±


    Her expression darkened at the word ¡°gremlin,¡± going from sunny to stormcloud in two syllables. ¡°Oooh! Hey, yeah, if there really are gremlins, they need to die! Like, quick-quick!¡± She made slashing motions with her hands to accompany that last bit, spitting sparks and embers from the tips of her fingers at the end of each motion. ¡°So, what¡¯s going on? Are they the break-ey kind of gremlin, or the poo-ey kind? Wait, you said there¡¯s a grove?¡± Her face scrunched up. ¡°Why are they in there? What kind of gremlins are these?¡±


    ¡°We think -¡± Marahm didn¡¯t get very far before another voice cut him off.


    ¡°Excuse me, Captain, could I intrude on this discussion?¡± The healer had apparently finished up and had joined us, trailing Faraday. A tall woman with lightly tanned skin, intelligent-looking blue eyes, and a round face that might have been pretty if it weren¡¯t paired with a mass of barely-tamed curls, which only exaggerated the roundness and gave her an oddly child-like appearance. The slightly-pointed ears peeking out from her hair attested to some kind of elfen heritage, though I couldn¡¯t tell at a glance what kind. She was wearing a green cape, a brown canvas apron - freshly stained with blood - and a cream linen dress. Every garment had significant amounts of very fine green and gold embroidery on the edges as decoration. A walking staff with intricate carvings of animals and leaves, and a large pouch filled with what smelled like herbs, completed the ensemble.


    Definitely a druid. No way she was anything else, with that getup. Though normally they didn¡¯t go in for the embroidery - the few I¡¯d met tended to prefer rougher cuts and materials that didn¡¯t object to living rough out in the wilds for months at a time. Interesting.


    ¡°N¡¯Laive Hogsworthy,¡± she said, sticking her hand out to me and then Cherubix, revealing even more embroidery on the sleeve, this time fine white thread spelling out what looked like elvish script. ¡°Though everybody calls me Ladybird. I¡¯m an agricultural consultant and occasionally an emergency medic for the folks around town.¡± Nodding at Faraday, she went on, ¡°I¡¯ve already expressed my thanks to Mr. Constance for his assistance. Do I take it that you all are planning on heading out to deal with the creatures that did this?¡±


    ¡°Dezi Arbodor and Co., pest relocation and, if need be, extermination,¡± I said, in a much more business-like fashion than my normal marketer¡¯s patter, pulling out a business card from the holster on my quiver strap and handing it to her. ¡°This is Cherubix, brownie and elementalist.¡± Said brownie just grinned at the presumably-druid and waved. ¡°And yes, we were indeed planning to do so. There were just the questions of settling on compensation and getting any information you all might be able to give us on what we¡¯re dealing with before we head out.¡± I raised an eyebrow at Faraday as I was saying this, checking to see if he agreed, and got a firm nod in response. No surprise, he hated seeing kids in pain even more than I did.


    ¡°Excellent. I don¡¯t suppose you¡¯d mind if I came along? I¡¯ve done some research on the little buggers and my father believes that there¡¯s some kind of elven ruin deep in the goodfruit grove, so I¡¯d love a chance to get deeper than usual with your help.¡±


    Uh¡­ what? ¡°Ah, no, that won¡¯t- Wait,¡± I held up a hand, dropping my formal accent. ¡°Okay, miss, I get that you think there¡¯s a ruin in there. But this is dangerous work, these things have already done for a guard and the kid¡¯s father. We¡¯re trained in dealing with this kind of thing, and have our own tricks besides that¡¯ve gotten us this far. We can¡¯t really-¡±


    I stopped, as I felt the air suddenly grow thick and heavy and the scent of growing things slammed into my nostrils. Her eyes started glowing a vibrant green, and I could practically hear the magic flowing through her like a sudden geyser. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    ¡°I think you¡¯ll find that I have plenty of tricks of my own, Ms. Arbodor,¡± she said, cocking an eyebrow at me even as she continued to channel a massive amount of magic without doing so much as raising a finger. What the fuck was this woman?


    ¡°I¡­¡± This was not how I¡¯d planned this conversation, and I desperately looked from Faraday to the captain. Faraday had edged slightly away from Ladybird and was regarding her warily.


    Captain Marahm, however, just had a resigned expression on his face. Glancing at me, he said, ¡°Miss Hogsworthy has been requesting assistance to explore the nearby woodlands for some time. This one has never felt comfortable agreeing to send men out with her-¡±


    ¡°You mean my mother has ever-so-politely bullied you into stonewalling me, and I¡¯m too sensible to go out on my own,¡± she interrupted, sparing him an irritated glance before turning her attention back to me. Her eyes, at least, had stopped glowing quite so intensely, and she¡¯d cut the flow of magic down to a trickle. I guess she thought that her little light show had served its purpose. She wasn¡¯t entirely wrong, either.


    Marahm continued, ¡°Ah¡­ yes, well, Madame Hogsworthy is a¡­ formidable woman, and this one has found it unwise to argue with an elf about the safety of their children. Especially,¡± he added quietly, ¡°when this one cannot be certain of his own men¡¯s safety, let alone a civilian.¡± He shot her an equally irritated glance, before looking back at me, rubbing the burn scar that covered the side of his jaw. ¡°This one would not presume to judge Miss Hogsworthy¡¯s credentials as a member of an adventuring band, but¡­ he will say that he would not have objected to having her skills available in some of the scrapes that he has been in, from time to time.¡±


    At that he gave me a level look. ¡°Although this one certainly would not recommend that you take a civilian into harm''s way. And would deny even having any involvement in such a discussion, should it have taken place.¡±


    This was too much. We hadn¡¯t been in town long enough to get even an inkling about the local politics, we sure as hellfire weren¡¯t stepping into that mess. Gods, we didn¡¯t even know why this woman was -


    No. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and then let it out in a long exhale. Calm. Find the answers you need, don¡¯t stop at the surface.


    I lit up my own magic, just a bit, sending a mental prayer out into the ether and asking for a bit of insight from the spirits that followed me, before looking back up at her. ¡°Okay. Three things: why do you want to go, what kind of magic was that, and what kind of training have you had?¡±


    She blinked, then looked down, suddenly embarrassed. ¡°I¡­ curiosity, partly. My father¡¯s an archaeologist, he would dearly love to get his hands on some undisturbed artifacts left behind by the elves who used to live here. But...¡± she stood up straighter and met my eyes, a bit of fire in her gaze where before there¡¯d only been calculation and bravado. ¡°The wilds call to me. I¡¯m a Greenspeaker, I need wild spaces to live and to do my magic. It¡¯s been maddening growing up here and then coming back from school and now spending the last three years afraid to go where my magic tells me I need to go.¡±


    My eyebrows went up at that. She hadn¡¯t been lying about the wilds ¡°calling to her,¡± whatever exactly that meant, and the spirits whispering in my ears were implying that she didn¡¯t mean it in the way that idiot city-slickers did when they talked about ¡°wanting to get back to nature.¡± There was an odd solidity to the words, the way she said it, that made my instant disdain for the phrase turn into curiosity.


    She saw the questions her little diatribe had raised in my eyes and waved her hand in the air, batting them away. ¡°As for my training, I got my Mage¡¯s licence and a degree from the Collegium Sylvis on Arthaeum. Druidcraft and Classical Transmutation, fifth tier in both. I went on field expeditions with the Collegium to Thuselah, Cartelann, and Lliarwyld; I was designated as offensive support for all three, and passed the evaluations with flying colors.¡±


    I pursed my lips in a silent whistle, and I looked at Faraday and the captain again. Sylvis was famous across the Federation as the place for elementalists, druids, and blue mages to get their education, as well as excelling at all the mundane kinds of things that could be learned about the natural world. And fifth tier meant that she wasn¡¯t just any old hedgewitch - fourth tier and up and you were talking about serious firepower. (Although admittedly she¡¯d already proved that much with her earlier demonstration.) The field expeditions they held each year were known as some of the toughest wilderness survival training exercises in the Federation short of the Adventurer¡¯s Guild final exam. And she¡¯d gone on three of them.


    ¡°... Right. So, first off, as impressive as that is, we are tabling any discussion of bringing you with us, for now.¡± I gave her a very direct look as I said it, making sure she understood that I was both utterly serious but still willing to have the discussion, later. ¡°Second, tell us what you know about these things and the grove, besides that it¡¯s maybe haunted and definitely magical.¡±


    She looked a bit surly for a moment, but then her expression shifted to cool and professional. Good, she could contain her disappointment, even if it turned out to be temporary.


    ¡°The gremlins here on C¡¯thon are, in their essence, very similar to those found elsewhere. There is one notable breed, what we call ¡®Redcaps,¡¯ that I haven¡¯t run across labeled as a gremlin on other worlds, though similar fey spirits are found -¡± She shook her head at the digression and got back on track. ¡°The point is, most of the things you know about gremlins remain true: small, malicious, and cowardly. Simple to deal with on their own and in the open, but dangerous in groups and difficult to root out of hiding. Each breed has their own preferred method of inflicting chaos on civilized peoples, and they revel in doing so.¡±


    Her face turned contemplative. ¡°The biggest difference is that, where elsewhere each breed of gremlin has its own magic that enhances their particular brand of unpleasantness, here on C¡¯thon those magics are concentrated in their eyes. The guardsman mentioned red and blue lights, correct?¡± She looked at Marahm for confirmation, and he nodded. ¡°So, Nuglubs and Redcaps. A Nuglub¡¯s gaze is hypnotic, capable of catching and holding someone¡¯s attention and even putting them into a trance. Redcaps can incite fear and panic in those who see the light from their eyes, though from what I recall the effectiveness of it decreases dramatically with repeated applications.¡± Again, she looked at Marahm for confirmation. ¡°Does that match what you and your men know, Captain?¡±


    He was looking at her with a raised eyebrow. ¡°Hrr. Yes, just so. Though this one would add that the Nuglub¡¯s trick means that they are unable to move while they keep it up, so it isn¡¯t much of a threat when they¡¯re alone.¡± He grimaced. ¡°However, they never appear singly. We have no records of them attacking in packs of less than three, so don¡¯t count on that saving you.¡±


    ¡°How resistant are they to normal steel?¡± Faraday asked.


    Marahm grinned, baring fangs. ¡°Not noticeably. Killing them is not very hard; it¡¯s surviving being swarmed that¡¯s the trick.¡± Faraday¡¯s shoulders lost a bit of their tension at that, and he gave me a small smile, which I returned. Neither of us had been looking forward to dealing with creatures that could shrug off a perfect blow just because we hadn¡¯t packed the right kind of weapon.


    ¡°And the grove?¡± I looked at Ladybird questioningly, switching back to my more formal mode of speaking. ¡°The Captain says that he has not been there, only that it is haunted and that there are magic fruits. What do you know of it?¡±


    She nodded. ¡°Yes, it¡¯s¡­ an oddity, and whatever resides there is one of the reasons my father and I are so curious about the place. The blue oaks -¡± She broke off and looked at us searchingly. ¡°Do you know what they are, what they mean?¡±


    All three of us shook our heads, and she sighed. ¡°They¡¯re a rare cultivar, usually only found in old elven settlements. They draw small amounts of magic out of the air, concentrating it in the soil around their roots, and so even one of them can be a useful resource for anyone living nearby. But they¡¯re finicky about where they grow, and take a great deal of care on the part of their tenders to survive beyond their first hundred years or so. The relatively minor magical side effects caused by mature trees aren¡¯t really worth the time or effort for anyone who does business in terms of less than a century.


    ¡°At any rate, the discovery of an entire grove, in such high concentration and to all appearances in perfect health, was one of the things that caused FExCorps to approve the founding of the town.¡± She smirked, then. ¡°They didn¡¯t learn that the grove was haunted until the town was half-built.¡±


    Faraday looked over at me, then back at the druid. ¡°Interesting. And the conditions inside the grove? Is it cramped? Dark? What¡¯s the ground like underfoot?¡±


    ¡°Yes, and what about this haunting? Does nobody know what kind of spirit it is?¡± I added in.


    ¡°I -¡± She stammered for a moment, taken aback at our complete lack of interest in the historical and economic ramifications of the local flora. ¡°Um, no, nobody¡¯s been able to get even a glimpse of it. In fact, to my knowledge this is the first time anyone¡¯s been attacked or gone missing in the grove, ever.¡± She sent Captain Marahm a questioning look, to which he nodded. ¡°There¡¯s just a consistent feeling of being watched while you¡¯re there - one that I can attest to, having gathered fruit and herbs there myself a few times. Like there¡¯s a monster keeping an eye on you and you can¡¯t tell when it will run out of patience with your presence in its territory.¡±


    She shuddered and paused, collecting herself and thinking about our questions.


    ¡°The grove itself does get cramped in places, yes, but there are few areas that a man-sized creature couldn¡¯t walk through. The oaks block a fair amount of light, but there are gaps enough between them and the canopy isn¡¯t so dense that you need to bring a light source during the day. As for the ground¡­ The area has little shrubbery, only grasses and flowers on the forest floor, though directly next to the trees the leaf litter and roots could certainly complicate footwork.¡±


    She paused again, and then looked up. ¡°I¡¯m not sure it has any bearing, but the grove is being tended to by whatever lives there. The trees have signs of intentional pruning in places that had gotten infected, and when I sent my senses out into the trees the feeling I got back was¡­ well, a sense of gratitude for how they were growing. I got a similar response in a forest that woodsmen were keeping for one of Lliarwyld¡¯s kings to hunt in.¡± She shrugged. ¡°But, as I said, I can¡¯t tell you whether that¡¯s a good thing or not. I could list a dozen kinds of spirits that will lovingly tend to the wilds where they dwell and are viciously territorial towards intruders.¡±


    I gave her an appraising glance, impressed by her ability to vomit out the local lore on request, and then looked at Faraday and Cherubix. ¡°Well, that is better than a good number of the briefings I have had before heading out on an expedition. Do either of you have anything else you need to know?¡± They shook their heads, and I smiled at the druid and the watch captain.


    ¡°Excellent. Now, if you all could excuse us? We need to have a team discussion¡­¡±


    <hr>


    ¡°Okay, you two,¡± I said. ¡°What¡¯s your take on our friendly neighborhood druid? Should we take her with us, or thank her kindly for the briefing and leave her behind?¡±


    Cherubix, naturally, got her thoughts out first. ¡°I think she¡¯s nice! I like her magic, it feels all warm and tingly.¡± No surprise there - fey, even urban varieties like Brownies, tended to like people who used nature magic. ¡°And she seemed to know a lot!¡± She looked between the two of us. ¡°Do you think we could take her with us? I know she¡¯s not in the Guild, but she seemed powerful and all that stuff about going to school sounded really impressive!¡±


    I nodded to show I¡¯d heard her, and looked at Faraday for his opinion.


    He was feeling uncertain, I could tell, and I didn¡¯t blame him - it¡¯s not a simple thing, adding someone to a team on short notice. ¡°I think¡­ that she¡¯s worth a shot. Provided that she understands she¡¯s to turn around and run home if we tell her, and to follow our orders to the letter.¡± He grimaced. ¡°I¡¯m not sure that that¡¯ll prevent any issues, but¡­¡± He looked at me, and his gaze was a bit concerned.


    ¡°Dezi, these aren¡¯t just dire rats or untrained cultists. When I was younger, I was part of a squad sent into a crypt infested with undead that could paralyze with a touch and cause people to panic by just snarling at them. Numbers can be decisive when you¡¯re up against that kind of thing.¡± He grimaced. ¡°We still lost people in that engagement, but if we¡¯d gone in with twice the men we likely would¡¯ve lost less than half as many by the time we brought the bastards down.¡±


    He shook his head. ¡°If you¡¯re getting a bad read on her, we go without her, but if not then I think it¡¯s worth extendin¡¯ a bit of faith. She¡¯s got the power and should have the skill to lift her weight, my only worry is her instincts and how she works as part of the team.¡±


    I nodded. ¡°Hmm¡­ yeah, that¡¯s my worry as well.¡± I scratched at my cheek, thinking.


    Adding a new factor to a pre-existing team was always risky, especially someone who we hadn¡¯t seen in a combat environment before. Real, life-or-death stakes had a tendency to make some people freeze up, which could be deadly for the whole team if you were depending on them or if the team had to rescue them from danger. Not to mention that, with high-powered and untested casters, you were never sure whether they were going to miscalculate the area affected by their spells and accidentally crisp you with their fireball in addition to the monsters. I wasn¡¯t terribly worried about that where Ladybird was concerned - if she were going to screw up that way, she wouldn¡¯t have gotten through three field expeditions with Sylvis without having at least one blemish on her record, and she hadn¡¯t been lying about the ¡°flying colors¡± bit.


    We didn¡¯t strictly need another offensive support - I had that covered, mostly. But the fact that she could act as a healer, in case Faraday was out of commission, and had a connection with the wilderness¡­ I still wasn¡¯t certain of the ramifications of that ¡°call of the wild¡± stuff, but it should at least mean that I wouldn¡¯t have to exhaust myself trying to use my magic to interpret wilderness signs that she could understand more clearly. Plus, she seemed to really know her stuff about what we were walking into, without having read up on it or anything - having a knowledgeable local guide we could lean on for future expeditions could be huge, especially given the unusual communication and travel restrictions that we were dealing with on this world.


    Really, it all came down to whether she would do something stupid, like dashing out in front of the melee fighters, trying to grab an obviously cursed relic that would set off a trap, just running away and leaving the rest of us to die, or¡­ really, that list was practically endless. The thing was, I didn¡¯t really get that sense with her. She might, don¡¯t get me wrong - I¡¯d been on expeditions with some really competent people who¡¯d done incredibly dumb things. But, as Faraday said, it was a matter of trust, and right now I didn¡¯t have a reason to doubt her, besides cynicism about a civilian¡¯s ability to cope with a dangerous situation.


    And he was also right about numbers coming in handy against stuff like this. If she could help without slowing us down or causing problems¡­


    ¡°Okay, we¡¯ll bring her,¡± I said, looking at the two of them. ¡°Faraday¡¯s point stands, though - if she doesn¡¯t listen to orders or does something stupid, then we send her packing. Otherwise, we treat her as an Auxiliary. Sound fair?¡±


    They both nodded, Cherubix looking delighted to have a new friend and Faraday still somewhat uncertain.


    Well, we¡¯d deal with any problems when we came to them. For now, there was the matter of figuring out how much silver we could get for this, without coming across as heartless money-grubbing bastards.

 8 - Introductions

    Rule 3: Your teammates are what stands between you and a messy death. Trust them, and make sure that they have reason to trust you. The more you know about each other, the better you¡¯ll all be able to make plans for the expected, and to deal with the unexpected when it inevitably happens. (Yes, this is why we have those stupid icebreaker exercises at the start of each term. No, you can¡¯t skip them.)


    - ¡°1001 Rules for Adventuring,¡± standard issue to all new Adventurer¡¯s Guild initiates.


    Greentree


    ¡°... two hundred silver to retrieve the body; fifty more if by some miracle you can bring him back alive. Twenty silver for every left ear you bring this one, and you can keep the eyes to sell them to Nettlebane.¡±


    ¡°Deal.¡± I smiled, and extended a hand. ¡°Pleasure doing business with you.¡±


    Captain Marahm gave me a grudging nod, and shook my hand, being careful not to mark me with his claws. Yet another good reason not to drive too hard a bargain with the man.


    The ¡°bargaining¡± had actually amounted to less than a minute of haggling; we both knew that there was still the possibility of a man¡¯s life at stake, so we didn¡¯t drag it out. I wasn¡¯t entirely happy - this could be a lot more danger than that much money was worth - but I was willing to extend a bit of good faith that the captain and his people would make up for it later.


    I turned to the lady druid who¡¯d been waiting for us to finish up, leaning against the wall of the house with a resigned expression on her face. ¡°Miss Hogsworthy, if you¡¯re still interested and willing to accept some rules of engagement, then we¡¯re willing to take you along with us.¡±


    Her eyes went just a bit wider, betraying her surprise, and she sprung up off the wall like someone had jabbed her with a needle, grabbing her staff and bag hurriedly. ¡°I- yes, absolutely! Whatever you need, I¡¯m happy to help.¡± She glanced at Faraday and Cherubix, then back to me. ¡°Thank you, it means a lot. I promise I won¡¯t get in the way.¡±


    Marahm coughed. ¡°For the record, if anyone should ask, this one disapproves of involving a civilian in such an expedition, no matter how capable she may be.¡± He glanced at me and the other two members of our team. ¡°Keep her safe, yes? This one understands that bad things can happen, but it would result in many unfortunate complications if she were to not come back.¡±


    ¡°Enough, captain,¡± Ladybird said curtly, glancing over her shoulder at him. ¡°I¡¯m not a child, no matter what my mother thinks, and I¡¯ll thank you to not treat me that way.¡±


    Marahm¡¯s whiskers twitched in a small smile. He lifted his hands like he was surrendering the fight, and said, ¡°Yes, yes, and you may tell her that.¡± Lowering his arms, he gave us a more serious look, meeting each of our eyes. ¡°In all seriousness, this one wishes you all luck. Bright Queen light your path.¡± Then, with a small bow, he turned and headed back into the house where his men were holed up.


    ¡°So,¡± I said, looking between companions old and new, ¡°Shall we get moving?¡±


    Greentree Outskirts


    ¡°So, whatcha got?¡± I asked with a smile. Sure, I could¡¯ve been more specific, but where¡¯s the fun in that?


    ¡°I¡­ beg your pardon?¡± Ladybird looked at me uncertainly.


    ¡°Spells. Tricks. Nifty things you can do to pull your weight. Whatever let you pass three field expeditions ¡®with flying colors.¡¯¡±


    She smiled, her expression clearing up. ¡°Ah, yes, those. Well...¡±


    We were walking down the trail that had been worn in the tall grass between Greentree and the grove. Ko had returned, saying that other than a picked-clean carcass of a small deer on the edge of the wood nothing seemed amiss, and was riding on my shoulder, watching our new addition with interest.


    Ladybird started ticking things off on her fingers. ¡°Longstrider for faster movement. Barkskin and Rhinohide to protect against physical harm. I know the various Resist Elements wards as well, though I doubt they¡¯ll be necessary here. Tiger¡¯s Grace, Auroch¡¯s Might, and Mammoth¡¯s Constitution for bodily enhancement. Regeneration for healing, although at my current tier it¡¯s limited and that spell is always risky if you have it on and take the wrong kind of wound. And, lastly, Camouflage and Muffle if stealth is called for.¡±


    My brows had been steadily climbing during that recitation. I could personally only do the equivalent of a couple of those, only one of them near the tier five mark, and I was theoretically our team¡¯s offensive support. I shared a glance with Faraday.


    ¡°Damn,¡± Faraday said, taking the words right out of my mouth. Turning back to her, he asked, ¡°So you¡¯re that kind of support. How many of those can you keep up at once, can I ask? And on how many of us?¡±


    She scrunched her nose up. ¡°Only one spell at a time, I¡¯m afraid. I can, however, apply it to up to four people without too much trouble.¡± The last was said a little smugly.


    I snorted. ¡°Without too much trouble¡± she says. It took me a good thirty seconds of preparation and a ritual to cast a combat enhancement spell on more than one person and make it stick, and here she was claiming she could do the whole party without any issue.


    ¡°Any offensive options, or are you all boost and no boom?¡± I held up a hand to try to soften the words. ¡°No disrespect intended - even if you can only toughen us up, so long as you hang back and stay out of the way that kind of thing still makes you a welcome addition. I just want to know if you¡¯ve got anything we can use to take these critters down faster.¡±


    The small, toothy grin she gave me in response was notably more feral than any expression I¡¯d seen from her thus far. ¡°Polymorph and Entangle were what I used when we were hunting as a group,¡± she replied. ¡°I can do damaging spells as well, but I¡¯m afraid that those take a bit of setup, and the target needs to be near some kind of natural wood or stone.¡±


    ¡°Polymorph¡­ by that do you -¡± I started, before Cherubix interrupted.


    ¡°Oh, oh, can you turn them into frogs? That¡¯d be so cool!¡±This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.


    ¡°No, I¡¯m afraid not,¡± Ladybird said, giving Cherubix a small smile. ¡°That kind of transmutation is an order of magnitude more complicated than I can manage at the moment. No, my spells are limited to a more moderate alteration of the physical form. With willing targets, I can manage something within the same class of creature - mammals into mammals, reptiles to reptile, etc. Against unwilling targets it¡¯s more along the order of, well, orders - humanoids to other humanoids, carnivora to carnivora, that kind of thing.¡±


    She reached up with the hand that wasn¡¯t holding her staff, tapping her chin in thought. ¡°With fey, like gremlins, they tend to be more susceptible to magical transformation. I should be able to amplify the effect and turn them into something even less dangerous than normal. But they¡¯ll also be able to undo the curse faster than the beasts I¡¯ve used it on before. Treat it as a moment of weakness, when you see me hex one of them, not as if they¡¯re stuck that way.¡± The hand that was tapping her chin moved over to her other arm and started rubbing it, as her face took on a much more sober and serious expression. ¡°Believe me, the magic can break at the least opportune time, if you aren¡¯t paying attention.¡±


    I raised an eyebrow, and exchanged a glance with Faraday, before turning back to her. ¡°I take it you had a close call?¡±


    Ladybird paused, as if debating whether to go into detail. ¡°A smilodon,¡± she eventually said, nodding. ¡°We were supposed to bring one back alive for the Collegium¡¯s collection. I¡¯d shrunk it into a more manageable size, and my partner and I were binding it for transport. One of the other teams distracted us, and it took the chance to break the transmutation and some of the bindings on a fore-limb. Got me on the arm,¡± she said, and patted the bicep, ¡°and Jalana in the ribs. Only the fact that we were almost done with binding it kept that mistake from being crippling or fatal.¡±


    Faraday and I both winced. We¡¯d not had any similar incidents during our time working together, but Guild field training featured a team hunting exercise, tracking and killing a dangerous predator. Every class had somebody who had to be rescued by the instructor - usually after they¡¯d been chewed on a bit, just to make the lesson stick.


    ¡°Well, we¡¯re not trying to take anything alive, this time, so no worries on that,¡± I said. Then I had a thought, and I could feel the corners of my mouth turn up in a mischievous grin. ¡°Although¡­¡±


    ¡°No.¡± Faraday said, expression flat and not budging an inch. ¡°Gremlins are not pets, Dezi. Even less so than a grease weasel. We¡¯re not going through that again.¡±


    ¡°Aw, you¡¯re no fun.¡± I stuck my tongue out at him, but then schooled my expression. ¡°Seriously, though, if we can take one of them alive, I think it could be worth the hassle. Since this is apparently the first time that this grove¡¯s seen a gremlin problem, if there was a reason for them infesting it now then I¡¯d like the chance to ask one of them what it was.¡±


    ¡°Did¡­ did she try to tame an oligeseil?¡± Ladybird was still stuck on what Faraday had said, apparently. Her expression of shock and disgust was priceless, which made bringing it up absolutely worth it.


    ¡°She tried,¡± Faraday ground out, giving me a flat stare that I just returned with my cheekiest grin, before turning to explain to Ladybird. ¡°It even worked, for a couple of days, until the thing decided that it wanted to eat the innkeeper¡¯s cat. At which point no amount of her ¡®persuasion¡¯ could keep it in its cage, so we had to find it, kill it, and then get rooms at another inn.¡±


    He looked back at me then and nodded, conceding my actual point. ¡°She¡¯s right, though - a prisoner could be useful if it has information on what¡¯s causing this. Cherubix, when we¡¯re down to the last few, or some are running away, could you try to stun or freeze one?¡±


    The brownie in question looked rather displeased at the idea. ¡°Awww, but why? The only good gremlin¡¯s a dead one! Dezi can just find out why they were there after they¡¯re dead, right?¡±


    ¡°Actually, that brings up a point,¡± Ladybird said, before I could respond. ¡°You know what I can do, but I must admit that I¡¯m curious what the three of you are capable of.¡± She pointed at my bow and Faraday¡¯s sword. ¡°I can make a decent guess, but at the same time if I¡¯m going to be part of this then I would like to know what to expect.¡±


    Faraday, Cherubix, and I looked at each other. Cherubix grinned, and shouted ¡°Woo! Show and tell!¡±


    She drew Walter and flourished him in the air, saying, ¡°This is Walter! Say hi, Walter!¡±


    ¡°Hey,¡± the sword said in his flat, dull voice, to Ladybird¡¯s obvious astonishment - and, to be fair, it wasn¡¯t every day that a sword talked to you.


    Cherubix, though, was moving on with her demonstration. ¡°I cut things up with him, and I throw fire and lightning and frost and wind, and I can make walls! Oh, and I can fly!¡±


    She thrust Walter behind her, pointing him at the ground, and a jet of sparks spat out of the blade before Faraday held his hand up in front of her face, interrupting her takeoff.


    ¡°Woah now. Let¡¯s not go setting the grassland on fire, aye?¡± He said, trying to temper her enthusiasm with a smidgeon of common sense.


    She didn¡¯t look particularly pleased at the interruption, but then looked back and saw the tall grass only a couple feet behind her, and let out a very quiet (for her) ¡°... Oh. Yeah, okay, you¡¯re right.¡±


    The disappointment didn¡¯t last long, though, and after a couple seconds had passed she¡¯d perked right back up. ¡°Anyway! They say that I¡¯m the ¡®designated offensive caster¡¯ or whatever but I just like lighting bad guys on fire. And so does Walter! Dontcha, Walter?¡±


    ¡°Oh yeah, it¡¯s buckets of fun.¡± The contrast between the words and the dull monotone of Walter¡¯s voice made me crack a smile, but it also gave me an opportunity to butt in.


    ¡°Anyway, as Cherubix was saying, she¡¯s our heavy hitter whenever elemental attacks work against something. She¡¯s small, mobile, and dangerous to targets both close by and at a distance, so she also tends to be the one we rely on when the unexpected happens.¡± The brownie just grinned at me as she sheathed her sword.


    ¡°Faraday,¡± I continued, gesturing at the man in question, ¡°is our front-line, though since he prefers his longsword over a shield and shorter blade we can¡¯t rely on him to do any of the deflection tricks that some sword-and-board types are capable of. Still, he hits like an angry troll and his armor makes it hard for the weaker types to get at him in return, so we generally use him as our anvil to Cheri¡¯s hammer. And, as you¡¯ve seen, his connection to the Light makes him handy afterwards if one of us needs to be patched up.¡±


    ¡°And Dezi acts as a ranged offensive support,¡± Faraday interjected, smiling at me, ¡°aiding us in our magic with her knowledge of spirits and rituals and using that bow of hers to pick off stragglers, while Ko gives us eyes in the sky and reliable navigation.¡±


    He looked back at Ladybird. ¡°I don¡¯t know about the other two,¡± he said, ¡°but my vote for which of your arsenal to use would be one of Barkskin or Rhinohide, whichever you think would be more effective as a defense against the gremlins¡¯ attacks. The Light strengthens my arm, so I won¡¯t be needing that Might spell, and I think in this instance having something to keep their blades and claws out of us would be the best use of your magic.¡±


    He glanced at me and Cherubix. ¡°Sound fair?¡±


    We both nodded. I was definitely all in favor of something to keep the gremlins from doing to us what they did to that kid.


    Ladybird was glancing between the three of us. While she still seemed a bit weirded out by Walter¡¯s existence, otherwise she¡¯d taken most of that in stride. ¡°I see. Well, let me know when you want it put up - it takes a few moments to cast it properly.¡± She looked at the blur of trees that had been slowly appearing on the horizon, and a spark of emerald light appeared in the depths of her eyes. ¡°In the meantime, might I suggest we make use of Longstrider to get there sooner? I wouldn¡¯t want to spend any time in the grove at night if I could avoid it, even before it had a host of little terrors infesting it, and the sun is only going to keep getting lower.¡±


    I smiled at her. ¡°By all means, let¡¯s be about it.¡± So far so good. We¡¯d see whether she could hack it when we got into the thick of things and monsters started appearing out of the woodwork trying to kill us, but so far the signs were promising.

 9 - Grove

    Fey creatures are, above all else, slaves to their natures. Each variety has, at its core, a thing that it holds dear, an action that it must perform, or an agenda that it must advance. The greater the power that a fey holds, the more complex or conceptual this core tends to be, and the more tenaciously they hold to it. In any interaction with the fey, seek to understand their nature as swiftly as possible, and always be aware that if you ever oppose the thing that sits at their heart you will have made yourself a mortal enemy.


    - ¡°A Treatise on the Planes, Book III: The Dreaming,¡± by When, archivist and head librarian for the Celestial Court of Malemnash.


    Outside the Goodfruit Grove


    ¡°Oh dear oh dear, that¡¯s a very dead deer.¡±


    I rolled my eyes at Cherubix¡¯ sad attempt at humor, my hands resting lightly on the corpse and keeping most of my concentration on trying to sense what was left of the poor thing''s spirit.


    ¡°Shouldn¡¯t we be¡­ going into the grove?¡± Ladybird whispered to Faraday from behind me, though still loud enough for me to hear.


    ¡°We will,¡± I said. ¡°But this wasn¡¯t too far out of our way, and I wanted to see if our friend here had any¡­ Aha!¡±


    I felt the tentative tugging at the tether I¡¯d put out, and straightened up slowly, murmuring to the spirit of the doe.


    ¡°C¡¯mere little one, everything¡¯s over, nobody¡¯s gonna hurt you anymore, okay?¡±


    Wild animal spirits tended not to stick around very long unless they were killed while caring for young. No real attachments and a life perpetually spent in the ¡°now¡± meant that they didn¡¯t really have much reason to avoid the cycle after they died. Torture, on the other hand, left some nasty echoes even if the spirit itself eventually moved on, and judging by the marks on its remains and the blood-spatter around it the poor thing had spent at least a few minutes being gone over by blade and claw. Regardless of whether it could tell us anything, once I realized what had happened I couldn¡¯t leave without putting its spirit to rest.


    A fist-sized orb of silver mist tentatively drifted out of the mangled corpse, little spikey prickles flickering out of it at irregular intervals. It rose up until it was a yard or so off the ground, darting here and there in response to the wind and the sound of my companions shifting behind me.


    ¡°Hey, hey, there you go,¡± I crooned. ¡°We¡¯re going to go get the ones who did this, okay? So let all that anger and pain go, there¡¯s no need for it anymore, alright?¡±


    It slowly stabilized as I spoke, growing slightly larger as the spines protruding from its surface gradually melted back into the sphere of ectoplasm.


    ¡°There, good, good. Can you show me what happened? Tell me how many of them there were? Anything you can share would be good, okay?¡±


    This was, admittedly, a long shot. Animals didn¡¯t really keep track of the kind of details that I cared about, and sucked at communicating in ways that humans could understand, but you never knew.


    [Pain/fear/pursuit] the spirit eventually got out. [Run/run/run] [Weak/blood/slow] [Caught/laughter/pain]


    I grimaced. ¡°Oh, you poor thing.¡± I turned to my companions. ¡°She was chased clear out of the forest, but they managed to tag her before she escaped. They caught her here, when she weakened from blood loss, and then¡­¡± I turned back to the silver orb, floating forlornly in the air. ¡°They laughed as they were killing her.¡±


    ¡°Can she tell us anything we can use?¡± Faraday asked quietly, his tone solemn.


    ¡°I don¡¯t think so,¡± I said, still looking at the spirit. ¡°She¡¯s pretty far gone, and deer aren¡¯t great thinkers anyway.¡± I sighed, and reached into one of the ingredients pouches inside my bag, taking out a pinch of oats. Whispering a prayer in Sylvan, I offered them to the spirit, being sure to keep my motions slow and unthreatening.


    The little blob of silver, which had now started to fray at the edges, dipped down into my hand and absorbed the grains. ¡°There you go, a little something for the road,¡± I said, smiling sadly.


    After a few seconds, and completely without fanfare, the silvery shape dissolved into nothing, the ectoplasm flowing back into the world as the doe took the offering and went on into the cycle of rebirth. I put my hands together for a moment, offering a prayer to the doe itself, and then turned back towards the others.


    Faraday had his head bowed in his own prayer, and Cherubix was glaring into the darkness under the nearby oak trees. Ladybird, to my surprise, had her hands together as well.


    I quirked an eyebrow at her when she lifted her head and met my eyes.


    ¡°What?¡± She said defensively. ¡°I was thinking that we were in a hurry, not that the creature didn¡¯t deserve to be put to rest properly.¡±


    I shrugged, picking up my bow from where I¡¯d put it, and turned towards the spot at the edge of the grove that Ko had deemed the likely exit point for the guard and the kid.


    ¡°No, that¡¯s fair. I¡¯ve just met a couple of druids in the Guild, and they were all¡­¡± I paused, searching for how to phrase it. ¡°Utilitarian, I think is the best word. Revered nature as a whole, but had little to no truck with spirits and gods.¡±


    Ladybird snorted, moving up to keep pace with me, leaving Faraday and Cherubix to pick up the rear. ¡°Oh, that sort. They¡¯re not wrong, per se, and there was one I met at school who was utterly brilliant at ecosystem management. In my experience, though, they have a tendency to fall apart when thrown into places with high fey concentrations, like we have here. No sense of whimsy, nor tolerance for things outside their understanding.¡±


    ¡°Right?¡± I glanced at her out of the corner of my eye, taking in the half-amused, half-resigned smirk on her face. ¡°Glad to see you aren¡¯t one.¡±


    Ko chose that moment to flap down onto my shoulder. <Head a bit closer to the grove, ratet. No movement inside that I can see, should be safe. Short flight ahead, you¡¯ll be there soon.>


    We let the conversation lapse as we jogged along. Longstrider was definitely a handy trick. It didn¡¯t offer the sheer speed that Haste gave you, where everything else slowed down and you felt like you could dance between raindrops. Instead, it focused on boosting your legs and lungs, letting you run a fair bit faster and farther than normal. I wasn¡¯t even winded, and we¡¯d been moving at a pace that would have wiped me out if we hadn¡¯t had Ladybird¡¯s spell to keep us going.


    After ten minutes or so of jogging, we hit the cart tracks. It didn¡¯t take much searching to confirm that it was the place where the guardsman and his two charges had entered the grove, and where they had retreated from the gremlin¡¯s attack. The dried patches of blood marking a trail away from the grove made that very apparent, unfortunately.


    ¡°So, standard formation?¡± I asked, looking at Cherubix and Faraday.


    They nodded, both with serious expressions on their faces now that we were getting down to business. Faraday moved up in front, and Cherubix dropped off his shoulder and took up a position behind me.


    I looked at Ladybird, who was regarding us with narrowed eyes, likely trying to puzzle out what we were doing. ¡°You¡¯re sticking next to me. Keep your eyes peeled to the sides; the others have our front and flank covered. If we say ¡®left¡¯ or ¡®right¡¯ that means you look out to the side of our march, not whichever direction you¡¯re facing. If we get attacked, hex the crap out of them until there aren¡¯t any targets to hex, and run if we tell you to. Don¡¯t look back, don¡¯t worry about us, just scram. If you get into trouble, give a shout, but for the sake of whatever gods you worship don¡¯t depend on us to save you - if you¡¯re in trouble we¡¯ll likely have our own pile of shit to deal with. Clear?¡±


    She nodded in response. Her brow was creased slightly and her mouth was set, a serious expression that gave me hope that she¡¯d do what was necessary and not do anything stupid. No fear, no concern about screwing up, just calm and focused.


    ¡°Did I miss anything?¡± I asked, turning back towards the woods and aiming the question at Faraday.


    ¡°Now might be the time for that toughening spell. Other¡¯n that¡­¡± He looked back over his shoulder at the druid. ¡°Do what you can to stay in formation. It gets awful hard to protect folks who wander out too far, and I don¡¯t know how much leeway these things will give us if the situation drops in the shitter.¡±


    She just nodded, and began a low chant under her breath. I could hear the whisper of mana pouring up from the ground and into her hands, and after ten heartbeats or so she touched me, then Faraday, then Cherubix on the shoulder with a finger, glowing from within by an emerald light.


    The sensation of the spell was¡­ not uncomfortable, but certainly not pleasant. Like my skin had gotten thicker and rougher and ever-so-slightly harder to move in. If anything, though, it was the sight of bark-like ridges and knots rising up slightly on my flesh that was the most disturbing.


    Transmutation spells are weird, man, don¡¯t let anybody tell you otherwise.


    I glanced at Cherubix, gesturing for her to approach, and started my usual pre-delve ritual. A stick of incense lit and spun widdershins seven times above us, a few verses of prayer, and a mental call asking some of my spirits to watch over us and guide our aim. After a minute of concentration, silver mist glowed briefly around us, and then to all outwards appearances dissipated. I could feel them waiting in the back of my mind, though, ready and eager to help. I nodded at Cherubix and she once again took up her position at the rear, expression intent and Walter held at the ready.


    Meanwhile, Faraday had been doing his own preparations, as a cascade of light fell gently across his form and seeped down into his armor. After a few moments, only the occasional speck of gold gave away the presence of the spell, as if the metal were reflecting a ray of sun that wasn¡¯t there. He rolled his shoulders and drew his sword, looking back at me to see if I was ready.Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.


    I gave everyone one last look over, then nodded at him, and we moved forward into the shade and the unknown dangers lurking within.


    <hr>


    We¡¯d spent less than a minute underneath the canopy of the grove before Marahm¡¯s and Ladybird¡¯s words were proven correct: the place was definitely haunted.


    It started as a feeling like there was something behind you, but it stayed behind you when you turned around. After moving a bit further in, I could sense them watching us from all directions. No hostile intent that I could pick up, but I was no longer surprised that the farmers didn¡¯t want to spend more time here than was necessary to grab some of the plump fruit I could see hanging from one of the trees we¡¯d passed by. To be honest, if it was giving me the creeps, then I was surprised that any sane civilian would be willing to enter the grove at all, let alone stay here for a few minutes.


    ¡­ Huh. Come to think of it, the whole ¡°go pick fruit in the haunted grove¡± thing sure sounded like something that a kid would get dared to do. Worth asking about whether that had something to do with how the practice got started, once we got back.


    For now, though, the spirits seemed content to just be creepy little shits and watch silently. We kept following the blood trail deeper in, which fortunately was getting clearer as we got closer to where the fight happened.


    ¡°Cheri, Faraday, you getting anything?¡±


    Faraday grunted and shook his head as he kept moving slowly ahead, sword on guard in front of him and eyes watchful. A quiet ¡°Nuh uh¡± was all I heard from Cherubix.


    To my right, Ladybird was a bit more forthcoming. ¡°Nothing moving, but I don¡¯t like what I¡¯m getting from the trees. It feels like they¡¯re upset about something, and normally trees this old don¡¯t care about little things like people or fey unless someone¡¯s chopping them down for lumber.¡±


    I glanced at her, and she just shrugged like she couldn¡¯t give me any more detail, her eyes flicking away almost as soon as they met mine, keeping a wary lookout around us.


    Another few minutes passed that way, with us slowly working our way deeper into the grove. The shadows grew deeper, and the feeling of magic in the air thicker. The sense of being watched never wavered, and the tension inside me slowly ratcheted higher with every step we took.


    By the time I felt the pulse of alarm from Ko and heard his tearing screech of a warcry, I was thoroughly glad to have something to shoot.


    <Movement on your left, ratet!>


    The others heard him, even if they couldn¡¯t understand him, and were reacting. I twisted towards the direction that he¡¯d indicated, searching for targets, but I only had a chance to get out ¡°To the-¡± before the creatures¡¯ eyes lit up the woods around us and I fell for their trap.


    BLUE


    The world washed away in a glowing haze of cyan as my gaze met two glowing blue orbs in the shadows of the underbrush.


    BLUE


    BLUE


    BLUE BLUE BLUEBLUEBLUE...


    I wasn¡¯t sure how long I spent under the damn thing¡¯s spell - it couldn¡¯t have been more than a few seconds, but it felt like an hour or more. Regardless, the next thing I knew was Cherubix landing on my head and a jolt of electricity arcing from Walter and into my shoulder and then to Ladybird beside me.


    ¡°Wake up, we¡¯ve got gremlins to kill!¡± She shouted, before somersaulting away towards the howling mob with glowing eyes that was way too close for my comfort.


    She bisected a short and twisted form as she landed, and then turned towards one of the taller ones - relatively taller, as it would barely come up to my waist. The pale stick-figure giggled at her like a demented child and then glared, its eyes flaring a brilliant crimson.


    ¡°Ahhhhh!¡± Bloodthirst turned to panic, and Cherubix immediately began scrambling away, as other Redcaps - spindly yard-tall things of bleached bone daubed with crimson paint, each wielding some kind of crude weapon - began to converge on her, malice and murder in their eyes while they filled the air with that unnerving laughter.


    It was the other ones, the Nuglubs, that I was worried about, though. Three Redcaps in the gang had focused on Cherubix, and at least one other was keeping Faraday busy judging by the giggling I was hearing, but there were half a dozen pairs of blue eyes atop gnarled, knee-high bodies beelining towards me and Ladybird, with only ten yards of forest floor between us and them.


    Adrenaline coursing through my veins, I felt a slight smile tugging at my lips as I raised my bow and nocked an arrow, making sure not to look directly at any of the azure lights approaching us.


    Breathe in, pull, whisper a prayer on the exhale, release.


    The string twanged and with a streak of silver the hunchbacked body I¡¯d been aiming at was nailed to the ground by an arrow through its abdomen, screeching as it clawed frantically at the protruding shaft.


    One down, five- no, six to go, I must have miscounted. There was still a bit of space, if I was fast enough I could take down another before I needed to get my knives out. I drew another arrow and was in the process of nocking it when I heard Ladybird¡¯s voice from my flank and felt a surge of magic flowing away from us through the forest floor towards the oncoming horde.


    ¡°Ru¡¯edehl-a¡¯nha!¡±


    The undergrowth between us and the gremlins convulsed. Stems twisted around bodies, grasses snagged on clawed feet, and one particularly unfortunate Nuglub was swallowed whole by a small bush. Two dodged away from the suddenly-violent greenery, and another managed to break out after a moment¡¯s struggle, but that spell had bought us a breath of space and halved the immediate threats.


    My next arrow took the leading gremlin in its bizarrely horse-like face, and I was about to draw my knives as the other two got close enough when a flare of harsh golden light and a battlecry from the side announced Faraday¡¯s arrival to the dance. Longsword flashing, he leaped between us and the oncoming pair. I left him to it, stepping back and turning towards where Cherubix was -


    CRACK!


    - where Cherubix had snapped out of the gremlin-induced panic and was showing why you really didn¡¯t want to piss off an elementalist wielding a soul blade, no matter her height.


    She¡¯d jetted a good dozen yards away in her flight from the one that had frightened her, and the Redcaps had only just caught up with her when she¡¯d gotten ahold of herself and turned on them. One Redcap was falling to the ground, smoke trailing from its fried body and stray electricity still arcing between points along its limbs. Another had a burn mark along its bulbous head, wounded and reeling but not down. The third was holding her off for now, but she seemed to be-


    I caught a flicker of blue from the side and switched targets, my arrow punching through the Nuglub¡¯s skull and slamming its hunched little body into a tree. That brief moment of hypnosis had still snared Cherubix, though, and during the second that she was distracted the Redcap caught her with a slash across the chest, a spray of blood flying away from the rusty scythe blade that it was using as a crude sword.


    ¡°Shit!¡± I cursed, hand moving down to my quiver and then back up to nock the arrow. ¡°Cherubix!¡±


    ¡°On it!¡± Ladybird bit out from my side. ¡°Theros, lierahm¡¯veihk!¡±


    The magic snarled like a living thing as it flowed out of her, forming an ominous green haze around the Redcap, its blade raised for the killing blow. The gremlin had only a heartbeat to realize that something was happening, and then the cloud contracted into its body and the creature withered. Its limbs shrank, its spine twisted, and the scythe blade shook like a leaf in its suddenly-undersized hands.


    My turn. Breathe in, pull, whisper a prayer on the exhale, release, and the Redcap fell bonelessly as my arrow passed straight through its shrunken torso like it was made of parchment.


    Now there was only one left, regrouping from the scorching that Cherubix had given it, but even wounded the brownie still had some fight left in her. She was on her knees, Walter clenched in one hand while the other tried to keep her wound closed, and the bone-white stick figure of the Redcap rushed towards her, giggling, its club upraised. A flurry of white flakes around Walter¡¯s blade was all the warning that the gremlin had before a blast of frost caught it straight in the face.


    I still pegged it with an arrow as it stumbled around blindly, but that was more to speed things up than anything else. The rush of combat was fading as I felt the urgency leaving me, replaced with worry for my injured friend.


    I flicked my eyes towards Faraday, finding him a few yards away, chasing down a Nuglub that had decided running away was at this point the only viable path to survival. Ladybird had taken control of the grass and was using it to trip the thing up, so they had that handled. By the time I looked back at Cherubix she was in the process of mincing the motionless Redcap with her flaming sword.


    ¡°Cheri!¡± I shouted, rushing towards her. ¡°It¡¯s dead, it¡¯s dead, honey. Stop that and let me see.¡±


    She looked up at me, eyes glazed. Now that I was closer I could see she had her hand clenched around the gash in the chestplate of her padded armor, and the slowly spreading stain of blood around it.


    ¡°Shit,¡± I muttered, before shouting ¡°Faraday, Ladybird, one of you get over here!¡± I glanced up, towards where I could feel Ko was perched on a branch, pulsed <wariness, keep watch> at him through our link, and then turned back to Cherubix.


    ¡°Any trouble breathing?¡± I murmured softly. Even if a chest wound wasn¡¯t instantly debilitating, it could still be lethal if it got a lung and wasn¡¯t fixed, and Cherubix was small enough that the difference between penetrating skin and puncturing something important was less than half an inch.


    She inhaled hesitantly, the fog of bloodlust slowly clearing from her gaze. ¡°I¡¯m¡­ I don¡¯t think so.¡± She hiccupped a little, then, and tears started to form in the corners of her eyes, but she kept it together as I gently picked her up.


    ¡°You¡¯ll be okay, just hold still until one of them gets here, alright?¡±


    She just nodded, shivering a bit. This was the worst she¡¯d gotten hit in the time I¡¯d known her, and she didn¡¯t seem to be taking it well.


    It was only a few seconds before Ladybird arrived, a worried look on her face, but it felt like minutes to me, holding Cherubix in my arms and watching her fight to keep her composure.


    ¡°Stay still, I need to see how bad it is.¡± Ladybird said, her eyes and fingers emitting a faint emerald glow as she placed a hand to Cherubix¡¯ wounded chest.


    Her eyebrows drew together in concentration. ¡°It nicked her sternum but didn¡¯t penetrate into the chest cavity. Bruises from blunt force trauma on some organs; shouldn¡¯t be too hard to fix. Some damage to the left pectoral, but not enough to complicate healing.¡±


    A relieved smile lit her face, and my own expression mirrored it. Cherubix was getting off light, for something that could¡¯ve easily killed her. We likely had Ladybird¡¯s Barkskin spell to thank for that.


    Ladybird bent over her patient, who I still had cradled in my arms, and the green glow around her fingers intensified. The blood slowly stopped seeping from the gash in the brownie''s chest, and soon enough the skin started growing little pink tendrils that knitted together to seal the wound.


    I was broken out of examining the process - the druid really did have masterful control over her mana - when I heard a stream of high-pitched curses in Sylvan coming from Faraday¡¯s direction.


    When I looked up, I saw him extracting a gremlin from the depths of a bush - one of the ones that Ladybird had trapped at the start of the fight. The thing looked bedraggled and scratched up from its botanical imprisonment. It was also letting us all know just how upset it was about being picked up by the scruff of the neck, cursing in a continuous stream as it scrabbled at Faraday¡¯s gauntleted hand with its claws.


    ¡°So,¡± Faraday said, his deep voice carrying over the thing¡¯s screeching, ¡°You said you wanted a prisoner?¡±

 10 - Interrogation

    Rule 86: When you have a chance to take a prisoner and ask them questions, do so. The knowledge to be gained from a creature - about its home, about its allies, about its treasures - can be incredibly useful in fulfilling a bounty. However, when doing so, there are three things you must always remember: it is never as well-restrained as you think it is, it will always try to fuck you over, and it may not actually know as much as you think it does.


    Rule 87: When taking prisoners, always think about what you¡¯re going to do with them afterward. ¡°Cleaning up a loose end¡± can be a valid choice once they¡¯ve outlived their usefulness, but killing a prisoner just because you can¡¯t afford to leave them alive behind you is a choice you should make when you first capture them, not after.


    - ¡°1001 Rules for Adventuring,¡± standard issue to all new Adventurer¡¯s Guild initiates.


    The Goodfruit Grove


    Nuglubs weren¡¯t quite the ugliest critter I¡¯d ever seen, but they were definitely in the running. This one would have stood about a foot and a half tall, if we¡¯d let it go, and its body was hunched, the head slung in front of the shoulders on a spine that was bowed forward like a question mark. Its arms and legs were out of proportion, with gnarled hands as big as its head that sported a set of ragged claw-like nails. Its face was oddly horselike, long and protruding forward from the skull, with a mane of greasy black hair going from its head to the middle of its back. The bulging, pupil-less sapphire eyes and jagged snaggleteeth only underlined how malformed it looked.


    Fortunately, the cussing had stopped after Faraday had shaken it up a bit and it¡¯d realized how screwed it was. Now the trick would be to get it to talk.


    ¡°So, my little friend - do you have a name?¡± I was starting off polite, at least. Though I doubted it¡¯d stay that way, gremlins being what they were.


    ¡°F- Fuck off!¡± it screeched, tiny drops of spittle flying as it spoke.


    ¡°I see, I see. In that case, we shall dub you as ¡®Fugoff,¡¯ first and last of your name.¡± I looked at it, my brows drawing together in an expression that I hoped gave off a ¡°slightly concerned¡± vibe. ¡°We would ask you questions, and I expect you to answer them. If you cannot be of use¡­¡± I pointed at the corpses of its compatriots that we¡¯d made a small pile of. ¡°Well, there are other uses we can put you to, yes?¡±


    Its face wilted, the bulging eyes darting between the corpses, us, and back, before finally blurting out, ¡°N-n-no hurt! Y-you da boss. No hurt!¡±


    ¡°Good, good,¡± I smiled at it, not enjoying the process but determined to see it through. Any information we could get from this thing that might save us or the town some trouble down the road would make this kind of interrogation worthwhile, but that didn¡¯t mean that I enjoyed bullying it, no matter how disgusting and evil it might be.


    ¡°First, how many more of you are there?¡±


    It looked a bit confused. ¡°L-lots, boss. Boss Sulbrug, dey gots lots.¡± It paused a moment, before going on. ¡°Boss Spite, she gots even more.¡±


    Oho, we have some names!


    ¡°And where are these bosses?¡± I asked. ¡°Here, or in the big forest?¡±


    ¡°Sulbrug, dey in hill,¡± the creature pointed deeper into the grove. ¡°Spite, she in treehouse.¡± At that it waved vaguely northward, which I took to mean in the forest north of Bridgetown.


    ¡°Mm-hm. And why are you and Boss Sulbrug here?¡± I asked, gesturing around at the trees surrounding us.


    ¡°Eh¡­ why?¡± It tilted its head, like it didn¡¯t understand what I was asking. ¡°We follow boss Sulbrug. Sulbrug say we go, we go, or dey hit until we go.¡± It winced, remembering something unpleasant.


    Well, this Sulbrug sounded like a lovely, ah, person to work for. Just served to underline that gremlins were perfectly awful to everything, including each other.


    ¡°And do you know why Sulbrug decided to set up shop here?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Dey¡­ dey not like Boss Spite.¡± It didn¡¯t seem to want to keep talking, but I made a ¡®go on¡¯ gesture and it decided not to push my good graces. ¡°She nasty - too pretty, too cold, too¡­ much. All de other Nugs, dey scared of her, but Sulbrug say ¡®she not true grem, she fake.¡¯ So dey say go, and we go. We get hungry, see deer, chase it, find Old One trees. Old Ones not scare us, we pee on dem! So we go in, eat fruit, find hill.¡±


    I raised a brow at the mention of ¡°Old Ones,¡± and looked up at Ladybird and Faraday. Did the gremlins know something about the haunting, here?


    ¡°These Old Ones, who are they?¡± Ladybird asked.


    The gremlin looked like it should¡¯ve broke its misshapen neck turning to face her, held in place as it was. ¡°Dey make tree house and stuff. Dey make trap, sometime, but we grems break it!¡± Gods, watching it grin was disturbing. Those teeth were awful, even tiny as it was. ¡°Sometime nasty stone grems come out of Old One houses, and dey run and chase us, but we grems break dem too! We pee on dem!¡±


    ¡°Interesting.¡± Ladybird looked up at the rest of us, and continued in Common. ¡°It¡¯s likely talking about the elves who lived in the forest, but I¡¯ve no idea what the ¡®stone gremlin¡¯ it¡¯s talking about is. Perhaps a stone golem?¡± She shook her head. ¡°Regardless, if they¡¯re not worried about the haunting then maybe we don¡¯t have be, either.¡±


    ¡°Well then,¡± I said, looking back at our new ¡°friend¡± and switching back into Sylvan. ¡°This boss, Sulbrug - exactly how many gremlins are in that hill with it, hm?¡±


    It looked up at me, and I could see the calculation in its eyes, whether it could manage to get away with lying or if that was going to end up with it on the pile of corpses. I saw the moment when it gave up, slumping in Faraday¡¯s grasp, and I could feel the grin slipping across my face.


    Time to get a proper handle on what we were walking into.


    <hr>


    ¡°Alte¡¯il, Madru, adamai tha berenh¡­¡±


    The drone of the spell echoed in my ears, along with the whispering of the spirits as I bid them to their task.


    The gremlin was hogtied in a circle of pebbles we¡¯d set up. Its actual name was apparently ¡°Kudscru,¡± and the laugh I had at learning that was almost enough to make us even for it and its buddies trying to kill us. Even learning how unfortunately it¡¯d been named hadn¡¯t made me sympathetic enough to just let it go while we trekked deeper into the grove, though, and while I might enjoy teasing Faraday about getting a new pet I wasn¡¯t actually crazy enough to try to take the thing with us. So, we were going to ensure that the little monster stayed as far from us - and the people in Bridgetown - as possible.If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    I flicked a drop of purple blood from my knife onto the last stone, and tendrils of silver smoke burst out of it and the twelve other pebbles, streaming in a silent cyclone towards the quivering little gremlin in the middle of the circle. It jerked violently for a moment as the smoke sunk into the cut on its forehead and disappeared, but soon enough it was blinking and looking around with its bulbous eyes, glancing at me and then at Cherubix, who was still glowering at it. Meanwhile, I closed my eyes, and could still see the little bugger in front of me, lit up in silver through my eyelids.


    Looked like it hadn¡¯t managed to resist, so that sprig of sacred rowan that I¡¯d burned to cast the spell hadn¡¯t gone to waste.


    ¡°Now then, friend Kudscru,¡± I said in the coldest, most matter-of-fact voice I could manage, and gods but it was still hard to keep from laughing when I said that. ¡°That spell will stick for a year and a day. If you come close to me in that time, I will know. If you come close to any of the other tallfolk villages, I will know. And if I sense you out there, I will kill you.¡± I jabbed the knife under its nose with every sentence. ¡°Do. You. Understand?¡±


    It nodded jerkily. ¡°No hurt! Me go. Stay far from tallfolk.¡± It looked at Cherubix again, quailing under her death-glare, before quietly whining ¡°Me go now?¡±


    I rolled my eyes - its version of puppy-dog eyes was just sad, rather than pitiful - and undid the knots, letting it go. It stood up and shook itself off, and then cautiously walked away from us, keeping its eyes on me and Cherubix at all times. About halfway between us and the underbrush, it finally realized that we weren¡¯t going to chase it, and made a mad dash for cover. I could hear it crashing through the brush for a good minute before the sound of its passage grew too faint, and then closed my eyes to watch the speck of silver light keep moving away.


    ¡°So¡­¡± Ladybird started, before trailing off. ¡°Is that¡­ normal?¡±


    Faraday snorted from where he was busy cleaning and inspecting his sword, checking for any damage that might have happened during the fight. ¡°Which part? The gremlin cocooned in rope, the tracking ritual, the death threats?¡±


    ¡°I just¡­ didn¡¯t expect you to let it go, is all.¡±


    I hooked a thumb behind me in Faraday¡¯s direction, still watching the white speck diminishing in the distance through my eyelids. ¡°Paladin, remember? I might¡¯ve argued for burying the little bugger after we were done with him, and Cheri probably would¡¯ve been happy to do it, but there¡¯re some rules of engagement we can¡¯t really bend.¡± I turned around to look at her as I finished talking, satisfied for the moment that our little friend wasn¡¯t going to turn around and try to follow us.


    Faraday looked up at me, raising an eyebrow. ¡°And would you have done it, if I¡¯d not been here?¡±


    I winked at him. ¡°Won¡¯t have to find out, so long as you stick with us, eh?¡±


    ¡°Ah... at any rate,¡± Ladybird said, glancing between us. ¡°What kind of spell was that? Some kind of mark? I think I understood the refrain, but the primary verse escaped me.¡±


    ¡°Oh, yeah. It¡¯s a lesser version of the Fugitive¡¯s Mark; I usually use it to follow vermin back to their nest. I lied about the duration, though - it won¡¯t last more than a week, and the range isn¡¯t more than a mile or so under normal conditions. Still, if the little bugger gets close to me then I¡¯ll be able to sense and track it, barring magical interference.¡±


    I grimaced, turning back towards where I¡¯d last seen the white speck. ¡°And speaking of which¡­ yep, it¡¯s gone. Can¡¯t have gotten more than a quarter-mile. We¡¯ve been here all of six hours and already those wardstones are getting damned annoying.¡±


    I shook my head and walked over to the pile of gremlin corpses. Cherubix had spent a few minutes plucking the eyes out and cutting the ears off while we were interrogating our prisoner, so they were even more grotesque than normal. I was curious about the other variety we were facing, though - I hadn¡¯t had a chance to get a close look at one of these ¡°Redcaps,¡± and the stories I¡¯d heard about them described them as murderous little men, not the pale stick figures I¡¯d seen when they attacked us.


    Where the Nuglubs were squat and hunched, the Redcaps were thin and spindly, and oddly botanical in nature. They looked like someone had taken an overgrown thistle plant, bleached it white, shaped the leaves into something resembling arms and legs, and then dipped the flower petals in blood. Their mouths were vertical gashes in the bulb that made up their head, with the eye-sockets on each side of the mouth and no nose or ears visible. The specimen I was examining had multiple rows of tiny needle-like teeth, which made me very glad that they hadn¡¯t had a chance to bite any of us.


    Crouching down, I picked up one of its limp arms and wiggled it a bit. The limbs were oddly vine-like, with no defined joints, more like a gnarled tentacle than actual arms and legs. The ¡°hands¡± were simply more of the same material shaped into a cluster of smaller finger-tentacles, and the feet were just vaguely foot-like pads of toughened¡­ flesh or wood, whatever. They were bizarre-looking creatures, though not so outlandish as some that I¡¯d run into.


    Each had been wielding a crude weapon - a broken scythe blade attached to a stick, multiple crude clubs, and one enterprising critter had actually managed to fashion a stone hammer out of vines and a V-shaped branch. Not terribly dangerous one-on-one, but as Cherubix had found out those crude weapons could still do damage if they got a good shot in.


    I grabbed a waxed-cloth bag out of my pack and started sifting through the corpses, trying to find one of each type that was least damaged. If we were going to be sticking around here for long, I was going to want to learn as much as I could about these things - once we got back to town and I had a bit more time to tease out any hidden strengths or weaknesses, of course. We¡¯d have to come back through here to pick up the bag and my prizes, but unless things went very wrong that shouldn¡¯t be a problem.


    ¡°Do you think we can deal with over twenty of these things?¡± Ladybird was asking Faraday behind me as I hung the corpse-filled bag from a branch. ¡°There were only a dozen in that attack, and they almost got Miss Cherubix. And it implied that this Sulbrug character was a lot bigger than the rest of them¡­¡±


    ¡°If we can catch them by surprise, or at range, we should be set,¡± Faraday rumbled in reply. ¡°You haven¡¯t had a chance to see Cherubix really shine, yet, and if we can get them when they¡¯re clumped up and unsuspecting she can take quite a few down before they know what¡¯s hit em.¡±


    ¡°Yeah! Just wait, I¡¯ll show you some real fireworks if we have a chance!¡± It apparently hadn¡¯t taken Cherubix long to shrug off her funk at having to let the gremlin live. ¡°One shot, and BOOM! All the gremlin garbage on fire!¡±


    ¡°Your ability to slow them down if they charge should also tip things further in our favor, Ladybird,¡± I said, turning around and rejoining the conversation. ¡°Still, catching them by surprise is a big ¡®if,¡¯ and I think we need to make some plans for a fighting retreat if we can¡¯t keep them contained.¡±


    Faraday nodded firmly, putting his supplies away and sheathing his sword. ¡°Agreed. Talk as we walk? We¡¯re burning daylight, and our odds go down if we run into them in the dark. Are you feeling ready to go, Cherubix?¡±


    ¡°Yup! Right as rain!¡± She grinned up at us and flourished Walter, a trail of snowflakes spinning from his blade, before pointing in the direction that Kudscru had said was where we¡¯d find the ¡°hill¡± that his band was lairing in. ¡°Let¡¯s go clean up some trash!¡±


    I smiled at her, and then looked at Faraday and Ladybird. ¡°You heard the lady. Let¡¯s get moving.¡±


    Faraday grunted and stood up, once more taking point, with Cherubix falling in behind us.


    <Finally. Thought you were going to talk for hours. Eyes and talons sharp, ratet,> came from above, as Ko glided off into the trees ahead, making me grin and wave up at him, sending a pulse of amusement and gratitude back to him.


    With a smile still on my face, I turned and beckoned Ladybird over so we could talk.


    ¡°First off, great job. Your timing could have been a hair faster, but you didn¡¯t freeze up and those spells were damned effective, so if you keep that up you can run with us any time you like.¡±


    She gave a shy nod of her head, muttering her thanks, but I just waved them off. She¡¯d earned the compliments, as far as I was concerned, so there wasn¡¯t any reason to be humble about it.


    ¡°Now,¡± I went on, ¡°here¡¯s what I want you to be keeping an eye out for if something like that happens again¡­¡±

 11 - Ruin

    ¡°Places of power should be respected. Even if your intent is to conquer a place, to ransack it of its treasures or cleanse it of its current occupants, you should take every precaution not to damage the structure itself. Always be aware of the fact that, given enough time and concentrated magic, the walls may not only have ears - they can sometimes start thinking for themselves.¡±


    - Thesserion Kelluneth, Archmagister of Stone within the Collegium Sylvis on Arthaeum, in a lecture given to Adventurer¡¯s Guild initiates


    The Goodfruit Grove


    The trek towards the ¡°hill¡± that Kudscru had said the gremlins were using as a lair took another half hour or so, as we carefully picked our way through the woods. Ko served us well there. Once he knew what to look for, a quick flight above the canopy found a small clearing with a large grass-covered mound in the middle. With him guiding us, we cut straight towards it and soon found ourselves peering out at the clearing from behind a dense patch of underbrush.


    ¡°Well, they¡¯re definitely in there,¡± I said quietly, listening to the bickering and caterwauling coming from the archway leading into the hill. ¡°Can any of you sense movement in the clearing, or did we actually get lucky for once?¡±


    Faraday just shook his head, though I hadn¡¯t expected him to twig to anything - his holy magic only allowed him to sense evil outsiders and undead, rather than fey, and even then it was more a feeling of unease than a scrying spell¡¯s precision. Cherubix, likewise, signaled a negative, her eyes darting around the clearing in search of anything that we might be missing.


    ¡°I don¡¯t think so¡­¡± Ladybird seemed a bit distracted, but she went on. ¡°The trees are definitely upset, but it seems more like a sharp sense of discomfort or disgust than fear or anger.¡± She shook her head. ¡°Regardless, I can¡¯t feel any movement outside of the shrine.¡±


    ¡°Beg pardon,¡± Faraday said. ¡°That¡¯s a shrine, then?¡± He nodded towards the white stone archway built into the hill¡¯s face.


    ¡°It looks to be. Old elven architecture has a tendency to either co-opt natural structures and materials for habitable structures or to just build into pre-existing features of the landscape, like this one. If you look at the arch, it¡¯s all a single piece of stone - no mortar or keystone holding it together, which means it¡¯s either-¡± Ladybird¡¯s voice had raised in volume and enthusiasm as she got deeper into her impromptu lecture, and I¡¯d made a cutting motion to remind her of where we were. ¡°Right, sorry,¡± she whispered. ¡°Anyway, I¡¯d guess that this was fashioned by an elven stone-shaper, and the fact that this is the only such elven structure I¡¯ve heard of outside the forest, combined with the location in the middle of a large grove of blue oaks and the fact that it¡¯s built into the landscape rather than built up into a larger structure¡­¡±


    She took a breath. ¡°I mean, I might be wrong, this could be the equivalent of a forester¡¯s hut or something, but it screams ¡®shrine to Meloria¡¯ to my eyes.¡±


    ¡°And Meloria¡¯s one of the major elven nature-y deities, right? Leaves, trees, deer, all that?¡± I asked, still scanning the clearing for movement.


    ¡°Exactly,¡± she replied, ¡°though they may have had another name for her here. In the few rubbings and fragments that past adventurers brought back, that my father and I could get our hands on, we¡¯ve only seen references to the gods of stars, moon, and magic. While the portfolios mostly matched those in elven pantheons from off-world, some of the names were different.¡±


    Yeah, we were definitely going to be sitting down for a chat once we got back to town. The young druid was already proving a much better and more amicable source of knowledge than anyone else we¡¯d met, and hopefully her father would prove just as helpful. Though, I did worry that he¡¯d react poorly to us taking his kid out into the gremlin-infested woods¡­


    Still, I thought to myself as I watched Ko coming in for a landing on my arm, that was something to worry about tomorrow, not now. ¡°What¡¯ve you got for us, partner?¡± I asked him as he resettled his wings.


    <Nothing moving in the clearing, not even mice. Lots of flies buzzing around the door. Not sure what that means, though. Lots of noise, couldn¡¯t tell how many were in the burrow.> His neck feathers fluffed up in annoyance, and he shook his head to resettle them. <Still, should be easy to sit in the mouth and hunt them as they run.>


    I relayed that to the rest of the party, and looked at them afterward questioningly. ¡°Any theories as to what the flies are about?¡±


    ¡°Oh, ew!¡± Cherubix¡¯s face screwed up in disgust. ¡°They¡¯re gremlins, Dezy. They poo everywhere.  If they¡¯ve been in there very long¡­ Well, it¡¯s a good thing I packed the extra rags.¡± She puffed up her chest, proud of her foresight. Nevermind that she always packed extras, but I knew better than to mention that.


    Still, I winced at what that likely meant for what we¡¯d find inside, and Ladybird had a horrified expression on her face, which slowly turned to quiet fury.


    Faraday just grimaced briefly before turning to examine the structure again. ¡°Doesn¡¯t change much about what we have to do, though, if that¡¯s the case. Just try not to breathe any of em in.¡±


    He looked at Cherubix. ¡°Think you can fireball them from the doorway?¡±


    ¡°Ah¡­ Could I ask that we try not to blow up a historical site? Please.¡± Ladybird interjected.


    ¡°She¡¯s right. Though I¡¯d wager that anything a fireball could take out has already been done for by the gremlins.¡± I said. ¡°However... Cheri, can you lob a frostbomb in there, maybe freeze them in place for us?¡±


    Cherubix had been watching the discussion from where she stood near the forest floor, and her expression bloomed with an eager smile. ¡°Oh! Hey, yeah, I haven¡¯t done one of those in a while!¡± Then her expression sank slightly. ¡°Though, it¡¯s not gonna be able to take as many of ¡®em out as fire. Still, yeah! If I do it right, they¡¯re gonna be frozen in their own poo!¡± She punched a fist into the opposite palm, and then paused and gave me a questioning glance. ¡°That¡¯s irony, right?¡±


    ¡°Ehh¡­ Karma, more like,¡± I said, smiling at her, and then looking up at the other two. ¡°But whichever it is, I think we¡¯ve got the start of a plan.¡±


    <hr>


    ¡°Three,¡± Cherubix whispered, barely audible over the screeching of a particularly loud gremlin altercation.


    ¡°Two.¡± I whispered one last prayer, smiling as I felt the spirits flow out of the world and into the arrow I had nocked.


    ¡°One.¡± She said, concentrating on the swirling orb of ice-blue light hovering above her palm that had grown to three times the size of her head.


    ¡°FROST IN THE HOLE!¡± She screamed, flinging her hand forward, hurling the frostbomb through the archway.


    I watched through slitted eyes as the orb flew down the shallow stairway leading into the shrine, waiting for it to impact at the bottom, but she somehow managed to hook it back up and keep it flying into the chamber for another split second before it hit something and detonated.


    A chorus of sharp crackle-ing echoed from the room as a lot of water flash-froze, then shortly afterward a fwump as the spell let loose with a soft blast of pressurized air and sent a wave of frost billowing back up the stairway, along with the new sound of gremlins screaming in pain and panic.


    It also brought the powerful smell of carrion and feces, giving me a powerful flashback to the sewers. Gods but I was tired of that smell.Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.


    ¡°Go!¡± I shouted. Faraday was already four steps down the stairwell by the time Cherubix¡¯s spell had finished exploding, so my exhortation was mostly for Ladybird¡¯s benefit. I suited deed to word and started barreling down the stairs myself, Ladybird behind me and a slightly-winded Cherubix bringing up the rear.


    The room beyond was a madhouse. At least a dozen gremlins lay insensate near the stairs, either entirely dead or just shivering uncontrollably. One particularly large Nuglub near the back - likely the Boss Sulbrug we¡¯d heard about - had avoided most of the blast, but it was still blinking frost-bitten eyes while screaming at its henchmen. Unfortunately for it, said henchmen for the most part either had their feet frozen into the layer of filth on the floor or were still in shock from the sudden ambush in a place they¡¯d thought was safe.


    Not all of ¡®em, though, I thought to myself, pulling back the arrow and letting it loose at a Redcap who had it¡¯s shit together enough to start moving towards Faraday with a glimmer of ruby light in its eyes.


    The arrow struck, but not enough to outright kill it, and the little monster turned towards me with a shrill scream. Its eyes flared with red light, and the world around me faded away, replaced by the horror in front of me that was the most terrifying thing I¡¯d-


    I grit my teeth and clenched my eyes shut, fighting the magic off, and then opened them to glare right back in its startled eyes.


    I¡¯ve seen what lies beyond, waiting to gobble up wayward ghosts who overstay their welcome. You are nothing to that, little stick-man. I accompanied the internal monologue with another arrow straight to its shriveled little onion of a face, which finally did the job, and then looked around to find my next target.


    Ladybird stood in the doorway, and had the gremlins who¡¯d been mostly insensate well and truly handled, as barbed claws of stone erupted from the floor and slowly tore them to pieces. Cherubix had dashed past me while I was distracted and was repeatedly hitting a cluster of Nuglubs with chain lightnings, which would hopefully be enough to keep them from freezing her in place and coming for us. Faraday had squared off with the boss gremlin and a Redcap, and from the looks of it was being pushed hard.


    Yeah, that definitely looked like a fight that could do with some better odds.


    I drew an arrow and focused on a target. Inhale, pull, whisper a prayer on the exhale, loose.


    As the Redcap went for Faraday¡¯s exposed side my arrow caught it in what passed for its hip joint, and it fell to the ground with a squeal. A moment later Faraday¡¯s boot came down on its head, squashing it like a fist-sized melon, and he promptly went on the offensive against the big gremlin.


    I turned my attention to Cherubix¡¯s half of the fight, only to find that she¡¯d reduced the gang of six down to three very scorched and desperate individuals, all of which were struggling under the effects of Ladybird¡¯s polymorph curses. I started to shout a warning when one got its shrunken claws on the brownie, but cut it short when I saw that it had been so weakened that it didn¡¯t even leave a scratch. Cherubix cut it down in the next moment, the torso fully bisected as the top half fell away from the bottom, so I mentally shrugged and turned back to Faraday.


    The big gremlin was definitely tougher than the rest, having taken multiple cuts from Faraday¡¯s longsword along its arms and shoulders, with only shallow wounds to show for it. It was big enough to be a legitimate threat on its own, too, even without any other gremlins helping it out - those arms were longer than Faraday¡¯s sword, and the claw-like nails looked to be a good three inches each.


    I waited for a few heartbeats for the right shot, and then loosed when the fight brought the gremlin around to an angle where I couldn¡¯t accidentally hit Faraday. My arrow hit true - but instead of punching through the thing¡¯s skull it skidded off its greasy scalp and left behind another shallow wound. It let out a snarl and flinched, but it didn¡¯t let its guard down enough for Faraday to finish it properly.


    Damnit! I thought. They probably get resistant to normal steel as they get bigger. Crap, crap, we don¡¯t have anything prepped for this!


    Then I paused. Wait, we¡¯ve got a druid now.


    ¡°Ladybird,¡± I called out to get her attention. ¡°Can you weaken it?¡± I asked when she turned her head towards me, gesturing towards the duelling pair in the back of the room.


    ¡°Let¡¯s find out,¡± she muttered, before shifting her weight and thrusting her hand forth. ¡°Theros, lierahm¡¯veihk!¡±


    Once more, the magic snarled as it left her hand, spinning into a cloud around the creature, and I drew another arrow as fast as I could as the spell sank in and the transformation began. If the creature was powerful enough to shrug off steel, it was likely powerful enough to break a curse, so I wasn¡¯t counting on having more than one shot at it.


    Inhale, pull, watch the thing shrink in on itself like a deflated waterskin, whisper a prayer on the exhale, loose.


    For a moment I thought that it hadn¡¯t worked, as Faraday hit one of its upraised arm with another blow and carved off a chunk of flesh rather than severing the hand, but then the arrow sunk into its chest with a thunk that echoed in the chamber.


    The gremlin shrieked, and the curse snapped with a sound I could almost hear as the creature expanded back to its normal size, but a broadhead through the lung was something even it couldn¡¯t shrug off. It spat purple blood and fell back, trying to make some space, but Faraday¡¯s next hit got through its guard and took it in the neck.


    What followed was messy, as the thing¡¯s magically tough hide prevented a neat killing blow, but in the end its head rolled away from the torso as Faraday pulled his sword from the divot it had gouged in the floor.


    I looked around at the rest of the chamber, searching for any other threats, but Cherubix and Ladybird had mopped up all the small-fry on their own.


    ¡°Anybody hurt?¡± I asked, and was relieved when the answer came back mostly in the negative. Cherubix had a couple of scratches, and Faraday a shallow gouge in his left arm, but otherwise we¡¯d managed to make it through the fight unharmed.


    ¡°Well then,¡± I said, ¡°I guess it¡¯s time to clean this mess up. Who wants to deal with these,¡± I gestured towards the bodies littering the chamber¡¯s floor, ¡°and who wants to keep watch?¡±


    <hr>


    It took a good fifteen minutes to collect the ears and eyes from all the corpses, by which point Ladybird had made it clear that we wouldn¡¯t be leaving without her having cleaned up the worst of the mess and doing some sketches of the statuary and carvings, broken as they were.


    ¡°Wait, no, but it¡¯s getting really dark out though! This place is haunted! We should be getting back to town!¡± Cherubix was not a fan of roughing it when a proper bed - or, from her perspective, a pillow and a nice warm saucer of milk - was a possibility.


    ¡°Uh, actually¡­¡± I felt I had to chip in. ¡°I noticed something when I came out to keep watch: the haunting ends at the doorway. If you go back in, the feeling fades pretty much as soon as you pass out of sight of the woods. If we can clean up the place, get rid of the worst of the smell, we should be safe to camp the night in there.¡±


    ¡°Aw¡­¡± I could tell that Cherubix was less than pleased to not be going back, but she¡¯d perk up plenty soon - the only thing she loved more than cleaning a room was the possibility of cleaning a really foul room.


    ¡°Oh, really?¡± Ladybird looked back at the archway, and then around at the trees surrounding the clearing. I could tell when she focused in on the feeling of being watched by the way she hunched her shoulders slightly. ¡°What with the fight and¡­ well, everything I hadn¡¯t actually noticed a difference.¡±


    Then she perked up. ¡°But, yes, if we can clean it up and spend the night, then I¡¯ll get as much sketching done and notes made as I can. I¡¯m not sure how much Dad has in grant money available for that, but just making it possible to get a look at a site like this would be well worth it, and we can pay you back.¡±


    ¡°Even with the gremlins having done such a job on it?¡± Faraday looked at her with a skeptical expression.


    ¡°Oh, well, obviously that¡¯s less than ideal, but honestly just the architecture is a useful thing to have a first-hand account of, even if the murals and statues are¡­¡± she grimaced at the sad truth. ¡°Shall we say, less than intact.¡±


    ¡°Well, any kind of reward is welcome, but we¡¯ll be getting more than enough from Marahm for this. Don¡¯t press him for anything he can¡¯t afford, yeah?¡± I said, ignoring the raised eyebrow that Faraday shot me at turning down the coin.


    Ladybird seemed pleased, though, which was the point. ¡°I won¡¯t. But still, anything we bring back, I¡¯ll make sure you three are compensated for.¡±


    ¡°Ah, actually¡­¡± I said, looking at Faraday and Cherubix and inclining my head towards Ladybird. ¡°Auxiliary status, or no?¡±


    Faraday had clearly been wondering about where I was going with this, but his expression clarified instantly and he gave a firm nod. ¡°Absolutely. No complaints.¡±


    Cherubix just gave me a big smile, which she then turned on the bewildered druid, and said ¡°Oh! Yeah, she¡¯s done good! This could¡¯ve been a lot worse without her!¡±


    I smiled, and looked back at Ladybird. ¡°So, anything we bring back, we four will be compensated for.¡±


    At her continued confusion, I clarified. ¡°Guild rules let us give non-members who make significant contributions a lesser share in the rewards. We don¡¯t normally do it, because there¡¯s some legal hassles involved and it can make things really complicated, but you¡¯ve more than carried your weight.¡±


    I stuck out a hand, as she stammered something about not needing the money. ¡°And, if there are any other locations that you know of... well, we can talk about making similar arrangements to go explore them, eh?¡±