We almost made it to the city centre before anybody questioned where we were actually heading to. Which is a pretty fair thing to question really. Because I have absolutely no idea.

  Chenowith: “Where exactly is this woman that we are looking for?”

  Dwynfel: “I don’t know. She didn’t give me an itinerary. All I know is that they were heading here… probably to disrupt the town’s defences from within… or possibly to cause a load of suffering in order to lure Laezel here.”

  Knight 4: “Laezel? That god that that village to the north keeps banging on about?”

  Dwynfel: “Yes… except she isn’t a god… she’s a fucking huge demon. The old woman tricked the whole village into summoning her.”

  Knight 2: “Why?”

  Is the why really important right now?

  Dwynfel: “Because she’s a demon in a skinsuit… just a much smaller one.”

  Chenowith: “Then where might she have gone?”

  That’s a better question.

  Dwynfel: “If I were to guess… probably the safe zones. They can screw with defences and cause suffering there with ease.”

  Chenowith: “But there are four of those. Which one do we go to?”

  Knight 3: “Should we split up… we can check them quicker that way.”

  Knight 2: “That would be ill-advised. He’s the only one who knows what this woman looks like. We can’t just go around accosting every old woman that we see. Dwynfel needs to be with us.”

  Knight 3: “Fair point.”

  Chenowith: “So which one do we go to first?”

  Fucked if I know... right… I need to think this through logically.

  Dwynfel: “Well, the Duke’s manor will be full of nobles. As a result, it will be the best defended, making it the hardest one for them to interfere with. As for the other three… I’m not sure. You’d think that the adventurers’ guild would be well defended… but all of the adventurers will actually be out defending the streets and helping people to evacuate their homes… so it is actually quite vulnerable. The temple of the Father of Fortitude will be full of paladins. But the healers from the other temples will also go there, so probably also full of injured people. The injured people will be a good target… but the paladins can also put up a solid fight. And Madame Laurent’s is a bit of a wild card. How well defended that place is entirely depends on who happens to be in there at any given time.”

  Chenowith: “We should rule out the manor for now then…”

  Knight 4: “I say we go to the guild first.”

  Chenowith: “And your reasoning for that, Darlington?”

  Darlington: “It’s the closest.”

  Chenowith: “As good a reason as any. Let’s move.”

  We high-tailed it off in the direction of the guild. These guys seem like a nice little unit. I get the impression that they have known each other for a long time. They all seem to be late twenties or early thirties… I’m not good at guessing specific ages once puberty is over. The smells kind of level off around twenty and I have to go by appearance instead.

  There are three men and a woman. They are all up close fighters… which makes sense… since Chloe ordered all the ranged ones to take out the flying imps. Chenowith wields a fairly standard sword and shield. Darlington appears to be a monk… I’m basing that assumption on his complete lack of weaponry. The female wields a billhook. Which is unusual… we have some of those on the farm for agricultural purposes… she must have grown up on a farm and trained using what was available. And the remaining guy carries a rather large hammer. He also has a slight accent that I can’t quite put my finger on. None of them are wearing heavy armour… all just light leather stuff. Which is odd… I would have expected a shield user to have at least some standard plate armour on… maybe he just grabbed what was on hand when the alarm went off.

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  It didn’t take us long to reach the guild. Only a matter of minutes. It was disturbingly quiet. Given that it is one of the safe zones, I was expecting to see way more people… or at least hear people inside.

  Chenowith: “This ain’t right. We go in slow.”

  Everyone nodded along. Darlington and the hammer guy stood on either side of the doors and held them open. We peered inside and there was blood all over the floor… dead townsfolk everywhere. Fucking hell… is that that Gavin guy from earlier? Shit. I am so sorry.

  In the centre of the room… beaten and tied to a chair… was Venessa. Her head was lowered… she was either dead or she no longer had the energy to lift it. I went to run in to check on her, but I stopped myself. She is clearly a trap.

  Chenowith: “Enter and move to the sides. Dwynfel… wait here… once we’ve secured the ground floor, check on the woman.”

  Again, there were nods of agreement. Chenowith and the woman entered first. Chenowith went to the left and she went to the right. Darlington followed the woman and the hammer guy followed Chenowith. I really should ask them their names.

  As they moved around the room… there were no suspicious noises… nothing. The only sound that I could make out was the faint wheezing coming from Vanessa. There was so much blood all over the place that it was that I could smell.

  The woman and Darlington checked the room behind reception and again… there was nothing. Chenowith gestured for me to check on Vanessa and he made his way up the steps at the side to check the first floor with the hammer guy.

  I rushed forward. Vanessa was still alive. It was faint… but I could hear her faintly saying something…

  Vanessa: “Balcony.”

  Shit.

  Dwynfel: “Guys… wait…”

  Suddenly… a bunch of those insane cultists sprung up on the balcony with crossbows. I dived on Vanessa, causing her chair to fall backwards. Two bolts came in our direction… one missed us entirely and the other went through Vanessa’s left foot.

  Darlington and the woman had dived behind the reception desk and Chenowith had deflected the bolts that were fired at him with his shield. You can tell that these guys aren’t trained adventures. Cultists are always the same… they think their god will grant them the skills they need to survive combat… but shockingly it never works out like that.

  Vanessa: “Untie me, you twat.”

  Even when she is so damaged that she can barely breathe, she still finds a way to insult me… albeit quietly.

  I drew my knife and quickly cut the rope around her wrists. When I looked back up, I could see the hammer guy on the balcony… he must have rushed straight round there when they were taking their pot shots at everyone. The cultists had all discarded their crossbows and had drawn knives. Now… I am a big fan of dagger related combat… it is the go-to strategy for people who lack strength but have plenty of speed… but these cultists had neither. The hammer guy just smashed through the first few of them and the rest dived off the balcony. They obviously didn’t send their A-Team to this place.

  Five of them landed on the ground floor. One of which managed to break his leg in the process. He rolled around on the floor screaming. Three of them made a dash for me and Vanessa. The other panicked and tried to leave via the front door. Dale dived over the reception desk and tacked the fleeing guy to the ground. The female knight placed herself in between me and the incoming cultists and swiftly sliced through two of them with her billhook before jamming one of the spikes into the final one’s eye.

  Chenowith approached the one with the broken leg. Upon realising this… the screaming cultist took his knife and stabbed it into his own chest. Which only left one still alive.

  Can he track down his sword in time to avert disaster? With the fate of the world depending on it... he certainly hopes so.