Dolman - Two days before

  There was a certain majesty to the Ror river, Dolman surmised as he watched it, waiting for one of his companions to fall asleep. It had been a strange few weeks. First, he had almost died to the damn elf but was rescued by a god. Then just as he was starting to make sense of the situation he was ripped from his world and dumped onto a different version of Dwynveia - one where his “friends” didn't meet their end at the hands of Lilyth and her girlfriends. While Dolman was initially happy to see them, the reality of the fate that awaited them for things they did soured the reunion.

  I guess knowing for sure about there being eternal consequences to your actions really does change your perspective.

  He still wasn’t sure whether the King had actually saved him from sharing their fate or just delayed it. If the Light wasn’t concerned about the souls of most of its faithful, why would be his benefactor?

  How will the Dread Queen react to me serving the King Who Commands The Ocean? Dolman asked himself not for the first time.

  There was no answer. There wouldn't be one, he knew.

  I cast my lot with Him. No use regretting it now.

  At least that was what Dolman kept telling himself, and so far, it kept him breathing. Most of his old band weren't that lucky, their corpses now rotting in the goblins’ caves. They lost too many men there too - they were down to seven people, him included, and only two others were from his original group.

  Dolman’s first instructions upon arriving in this world were to stay with his band for the time being and so he did. Initially, it was remarkably uneventful, but after two days another band linked up with theirs. Apparently, something big had been supposed to go down and they would be needed to serve as a flanking force. They were formally inducted into the Red Masks, too, and given those blue shirts that marked them as low-level members. Just a few weeks before he would have been ecstatic to have received it. Now that Dolman had a different master and, especially, after the grand plan the Masks had in Ror-Bhyk went tits up before it could get off the ground, the shirt was a massive problem. Dolman might not have been the smartest, but even he understood that wearing the colours of a group that wanted to run a coup in one of the city-states was bad for one’s life expectancy.

  So, needless to say, a command from his King to leave that night and head south was a quite literal godsend. By then they had already been camping by the river for two utterly miserable days waiting for a transport that would likely never come. The place was supposed to be a dropoff point where, every week or so, a barge would deliver supplies and orders and pick up slaves and loot.

  Truth be told, had Dolman been in command of one of these boats, he would have left any stragglers to rot. Barges and people who knew how to sail them were more valuable than the handful of nobodies in Ror-Bhyk. Still, it fucking sucked to be on the receiving end of that.

  Such a “shame” I won’t be around to see what happens.

  He breathed a sigh of relief when judging by his breathing, the previous watchman finally fell asleep. Dolman picked the second watch on purpose. Nobody liked it, and it would be a perfect moment to slink away. The sky was clear so he wouldn't be stumbling through the forest completely blind, though it would be a close thing.

  Dolman looked at viemoos - brown long-haired bovines that the Red Masks stole from a farm in Dan-Hem. They were all asleep too.

  Good. I would hate having to kill them.

  If Dolman was aware of the fact that it had been years since he last extended such sentiment towards another sentient being, he wasn't showing any hint of it.

  Ignoring all such pesky concerns, the bandit picked his things up and set off towards his destiny.

  Aki

  I helped Lilyth get back to the rest of the group and we resumed tracking the bandits. I could see Caei and Ren casting us worried glances but I simply shook my head. There would be time for explanations later. We had some heavy-duty planning in store for us, but I wasn't quite sure how to approach this situation. While the presence of “cancer” here had me worried, Dan-Hem was my home after all; the “Murdergrove” was a few hours away from the village AND had been here since forever. Was there even a point then in messing with it? What if we made things worse?

  Then again not doing anything would be leaving an area that feeds on suffering just be.

  A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  I looked at my companions again. Even if you ignored the way this place was affecting us… exhaustion, both mental and physical, was visible in every one of us.

  I think my first responsibility is maintaining the well-being of my friends. And that means… not running around the Murdergrove more than necessary.

  The name was really growing on me, I realised.

  Or is it grove’ing?

  I was happy with that wordplay until the horrible truth hit me.

  Oh, gods… Lilyth's weirdness is infecting me. Nooooo…

  I was so distraught by the realisation that I did not notice a tree root protruding from the ground. Luckily, Caei's quick reaction stopped me from faceplanting into a tree. The thing was… when I looked back to find the offending plant… there was nothing there.

  What?

  It was clear I wasn’t crazy, though, as Lilyth walked over to the exact spot I tripped, crouched and, after a moment of close examination, pointed to the ground.

  ‘Something was here and seems to have dug itself back in based on the disturbed ground.’

  Dhelmir cursed under his breath.

  ‘Told you this place was cursed!’

  ‘Don’t know about curses, but there is definitely some fuckery going on here,’ my foxy cutie sighed.

  ‘You know…’ Dhelmir said. ‘I know this is none of my business, but it is not proper for a young lady like you to swear this much.’

  Ren and Caei took in shark breaths of air. Lilyth simply gave Dhelmir a pleasant smile and said

  ‘Thank thee for thine concern, kind sir. However, I bid thee to go and fornicate thyself.’

  She then gave him a mock curtsy.

  We did actually have a talk with Lilyth about how much she swore just before we got to the village. She simply said it was a form of a stress response for her, knew it was a problem and promised to try to cut back. I could clearly see it would be a long road for her, but then again hardly any of us could blame her for being “somewhat” overstressed. We’ve all had a few weeks of pure horror and at that stage, it was hard to decide which one of us had it the worst

  Dhelmir, lacking that helpful context, just shook his head and continued following the tracks.

  The first thing to alert us that we were about to find something was the pungent smell of decay. When we were nearing the river, the wind direction changed, and suddenly, our senses were assaulted by the stink of rotting meat. I thought that Lilyth likely must have noticed it earlier but said nothing, likely to preserve our cover, though when I asked her about that she said that once she had gotten past her body modification mental block, crippling that particular sense was first on the list. At that moment, I envied her that ability.

  ‘Ren!’ I whispered. ‘Go scout it out.’

  The half-harpy, already in the process of restringing her bow, activated her [Silent Step] and started heading towards the source of the smell.

  Dhelmir, clearly excited, said:

  ‘You girls ability users?’

  I nodded, not trusting myself to give him a verbal answer that would raise unfortunate questions.

  ‘I guess that makes sense if you are an adventuring band. You one too, Aki?’

  Shit!

  Before I could panic though, Caei came to my rescue:

  ‘We’d rather keep this a secret.’

  ‘Yes,’ Lilyth agreed. ‘Us showing our hand too early r-resulted in me getting c-captured in Mer-Cas. We don’t want to make that mistake again.’

  ‘I heard the stories,’ Dhelmir said cautiously.

  ‘They are probably wildly exaggerated,’ Lilyth simply replied.

  She’ll have to downplay that for the rest of her life, won't she?

  I felt the intense urge to go and hug my foxy cutie but had to stop myself. We’ve decided to hide my relationship with Lilyth and Caeileera from the village for now. Both of them weren't being particularly subtle about being together, but that was the point too, as we had to slowly expose the locals to the idea of women being in a relationship, and we hoped it would be easier to accept that if it concerned strangers who would eventually leave. Me… I saw enough hate from fellow Dan-Hemians already and didn't want to rock the boat too much, especially given how some people actually became friendlier to me. I would probably need to hang out with Ren the most because while we have accepted her into our family, it was clear she still was mostly interested in Caeileera. Her relationship with me and Lilyth was still crystallising. Still… she was an awesome extra cuddling partner.

  Still not as soft and warm as Lilyth, though.

  My foxy cutie felt like a giant foulmouthed plushie when relaxed which was an amazing thing to hug.

  Alas, my fantasies about glomping Lilyth were cut short when Ren returned and waved us to follow her. I placed my hands on my swords but she shook her head.

  She led us to the river bank where we saw remnants of a camp. It looked to have been abandoned in haste - there was trash all around, as well as six bedrolls and some satchels. The worst part of all, however, was our discovery that the source of the stench was the half-eaten carcasses of three viemoos. They were badly butchered, too - their rib cages were ripped open, and their insides were strewn around. Manter's viemoos have been very friendly and just loved being petted so seeing them in that state made me want to cry.

  ‘Why do that to a cow?’ Lilyth echoed my thoughts under her breath. ‘They just moo and give milk. Moo.’

  Only Dhelmir seemed to be wholly unaffected by the sight, as he approached the dead viemoos and examined them.

  ‘Now that's odd,’ he said.

  Lilyth approached him and asked for details.

  The tracker pointed at the animals’ rib cages and to the ground.

  ‘Look at the way bones are broken and where the fragments are,’ he explained. ‘Was this caused by external damage…’

  ‘…There would be some inside of those poor animals,’ she finished for him. ‘Meaning whatever did that came from the inside.’