Carrying three corpses and one prisoner, we moved quickly through the forest, headed for higher ground. We weren’t exactly carrying the prisoner, but he was still blinded and helpless. Felicia and I supported and led him along with us, while the boys carried the dead weight.

“It’s underground,” Cloridan informed us, apparently unbothered by the two corpses he was carrying. “There was a lookout, and it’s pretty easily defended. When we get there, let me scout ahead and make sure they haven’t noticed us.”

“Right,” I said. “Are we going to attack them?”

Cloridan couldn’t shrug with a corpse under each arm, but I’m sure he wanted to. “I figured my spell was running out, so I didn’t scout them out properly. I don’t think there’s many there though.”

So it's still my decision then? I wondered. I didn’t mind Cloridan taking the lead here - I wasn’t that attached to the role in the first place, and Cloridan was the one with the most emotional investment at stake. Still, this was already going beyond what I’d envisaged for my plan. I hadn’t considered we’d have to hide bodies, and as for the prisoner… He had been a contingency for if we hadn’t managed to track the lookout, or if he’d gone back to town. Now, it was looking very much like he was surplus to requirements.

We reached a cliff face, and Cloridan asked me to cast [Greater Invisibility] again so he could scout ahead. He took one of the corpses with him, to my confusion, and disappeared into the low brush that grew up to the face of the cliff.

“Why one?” Kyle asked.

“I don’t know,” I replied. “Hey, do you feel anything weird about this place?”

“Kind of…” he said trailing off as he tried to identify the feeling. I was trying the same.

“Is it… a sound?” Felicia asked uncertainly. “Like a deep rumbling?”

“I don’t… maybe?” I said. Was that what I was feeling?

Cloridan returned shortly, sans corpse, and I lifted the spell.

“Seems fine,” he said. “I think we’ll be good until there’s a shift change. Come on.”

He grabbed the other body and led us up to the cliff, into a fold which became a crack in the rock face. Entering what looked like a natural flaw, we soon saw that it had been carved out past the entrance. Dimly lit with a light crystal, what might have started as a natural cave was now a defensible guard post. Now I could hear a sound, very soft and deep, coming from further in the mountain.

The room was empty now, but it looked like it was outfitted to hide at least five men. Stairs going up the wall led to another natural-looking crack that was letting natural light in. Cloirdan pointed at it.

“Natural arrow slit, with a perfect view of the approach. It’s a nice setup, but that’s only the start. Come on.”

He led us past a sturdy-looking door, into another passageway. This was better lit than the guard post and seemed entirely artificial. The sound increased and became clearer.

Soon enough, the corridor opened up into a natural cave. It wasn’t excessively large, perhaps ten metres across at its widest point and a bit longer. Its main feature was a chasm that went all the way across the width of the cavern. Only two metres wide, it would have blocked our progress if a bridge hadn’t been built across it.

The rumbling sound was coming from the chasm, and now that it was clearer, I recognised what it was.

“An underground river?” I said, and Cloridan nodded.

“A perfect way to dispose of bodies,” he said. “A lot of the victims were never found, but a few did wash up in the river north of Talnier. I reckon it connects, but not everyone makes it through.”

He walked up and dropped his burden into the rift without ceremony. After a glance at me, Kyle did the same. Both of the bodies made a splashing sound, but it was down pretty deep. I took a look and the water was about five metres down and swiftly flowing. The bodies were already gone.

“What now?” Felicia asked nervously.

“Let’s go back and have this conversation in the guard room,” Cloridan suggested.

Seated around a table in the guard room, we all looked at the prisoner.

“Before I unblind him,” I said, “We should talk about what we’re going to do with him.”

Nobody wanted to be the first to speak, but eventually, Cloridan did. “If we let him go, he’s seen your spells, so it will be only a matter of time before the Baron comes looking for you.”

“Yeah,” I said heavily. “I know.”

We didn’t have the means, or the will to keep him prisoner forever, so there was only one way this could end.

“So is there anything we still need to learn from him?” I asked.

Cloridan grimaced. “I’ve got one question that I want to ask, but I doubt he’ll know the answer. We could ask about the people further in, but we won’t get better answers than we could get on our own.”

Was that it? I couldn’t think of any alternatives, but this wasn’t self-defence, this was murder.

“I - I should be the one to do it,” I said. “I was the one who planned on taking a captive without thinking it through.”

Kyle and Felicia looked equal parts relieved and sick. Cloridan though, shook his head.

“Nah, you can keep your hands clean a little longer,” he said.

“Cloridan - ”

“No, listen. I’m the one with a grudge again these folks. They may not remember who killed Albra, but one of them did. Each one I kill has a chance of being the one. That doesn’t mean I need to kill all of them, but if someones got to do it, let it be someone who’s got a grudge.”

That didn’t sound like healthy reasoning, but the relief I felt made it hard to argue against. No one else did either, so after another awkward silence, Cloridan stood and pulled the prisoner up.

“Wait,” I said. Thoughts whirled around my head, and I struggled to put them into a comprehensible form.

“A philosopher from my world once asked: ‘How many does it take?’”

“For what?” Felicia asked.

I remembered the first bit on my own, but I needed [Memorise] for the rest. “To metamorphose wickedness into righteousness.” Puzzled looks all around, philosophers never could say anything simply. Hopefully, it got translated reasonably well.

“Look, Aubert, the Baron, the King - they all sit on their thrones and dispense ‘justice’. When they kill someone, it's an execution or part of a war. Because everyone agrees - those deaths are acceptable - are righteous. So how many people do you need to agree? A thousand? A hundred? Four?”

Now they were really confused. The logic was hard to argue with, but everyone felt there was a distinct difference between society and a small group. Ask them to put a number on it though… This wasn’t a philosophy class, however. Knives were out and lives were on the line.

“It’s not about the number,” I answered for them. “It’s about the reason. When you take lives to protect others, to protect your society, it’s different from taking them for your own selfish benefit.

“These people have been preying on adventurers for years. The Baron - the supposed authority - is protecting them. Justice hasn’t failed, but the system that administers it is corrupt. What we’re doing here is starting a new system. A new State.”

“Well, that sounds better than murder,” Kyle said cautiously, “But it seems rather… grand?”

“Yeah,” I said. “Even if he doesn’t know about it, this is as much a challenge to the Baron as walking into his court and slapping him in the face. It’s only the first step on a long road, but it leads towards rebellion.”

“But we’re not doing anything different than what… we were going to do are we?” Felicia asked.

“No, this is just a different perspective,” I said. “For me as well. I think I’m starting to see the bigger picture of my presence here.”

Kyle nodded, “Well the Gods know that my parents would be proud to hear I’m going to be overthrowing the nobility.”

With that, the mood around the table improved. I took the spell off the prisoner. He looked around wildly, but before he could say anything, Cloridan pulled him out of the room.

“This won’t take long,” he said.

I nodded, but he had already left the room. “You guys stay here and keep watch on the outside. I’m going to scout the rest of base.”

“Alone?” Felicia asked.

“Yeah, I’ll be fine. I’m just getting jittery that we’ve been left alone for so long.”

I passed Cloridan in the cavern and let him know what I was going to do. Then I cast [Greater Invisibility] and headed further in, ignoring the prisoner.

Past the bridge, the way was blocked by a newly constructed gate. Or it would have been if the gate was shut. Now that the noise of the river had died down, I could hear faint laughter and talk ahead.

Cloridan had stopped here, but I continued on down the corridor. This section looked constructed, as if they’d filled in the empty cave with walls, stone floors and ceilings. I passed and quickly investigated two side corridors that led to a dozen small rooms. Barracks or cells, I couldn’t tell which, as the doors had long crumbled into splinters.

Following the sound of voices, I moved deeper in. The construction changed to look like it was carved out of the living rock, and the corridor opened up into a large octagonal chamber.

The whole place was lit up, and I could see there were balconies above, as well as a high domed ceiling. I kept following the voices, which led me to one of the entrances coming off the side. Each side of the octagon had its own exit, and as I approached the walls I saw that they must have had mosaics on them once. The walls were scarred and there was the occasional coloured fragment.

Your party has killed Nicolas Doyon - your experience share is 526 XP

I winced at the notification as I silently entered the room. The voices were clear now, and as I stood at the entrance of the room I could see their owners. Six thuggish looking people, playing cards and drinking, without a care in the world. The room was large enough that there was room for the twelve bedrolls to be laid out. It looked like this was the last of them.

I guess the other team was on duty, I thought. This was going to be distastefully easy. I quickly checked the other rooms out, but they all seemed to be stripped of valuables except for one room that seemed to be being used for storage. I made my way back to the others with heavy hearts.

Do they have to die as well? I wondered to myself, knowing the answer. This was our first blow against the Baron, and the stronger it was the better our future chances. To that end, it might be even better if exactly how they died was kept a mystery.

I made myself visible as I came out of the fortress.

“Listen, guys, I’ve got an idea…”

The gurgling screech echoed around the octagonal room. I’d found the stairs leading up to the balcony and the acoustics worked quite well when I cast [Unseen Sound] from up here. Six drunk ruffians raced out looking for the cause. Most of them had their weapons out, though two of them seemed to have only found empty bottles.

They moved to the centre of the room, looking around for a threat, but of course, there was nothing to see… yet.

[Phantasmal Entity]

Two hands, with green-black skin and long fingers that ended in claws, gripped the balcony balustrade. One of the group yelled and pointed. Then they all yelled as the rest of the creature came into view. It quickly jumped down to their level, its long, wrongly jointed legs absorbing the impact. As it turned to face them, they could see that its face had no eyes, just an elongated dome for a skull and a mouth with far too many teeth. Black ichor seemed to drip off of its skin.

If they’d [Identified] it, they would have seen something like

[Identification]: - Geiger Xenomorph (Illusion) - Threat: 30 - Properties: Endless Spawn

Hopefully without the illusion tag. I don’t think any of them bothered though, because they all turned and ran as fast as they could. I had it scream some more to encourage them and then headed down the stairs to see the results. As it turned out, I didn’t need to.

Your party has killed Peverell Compagnon - your experience share is 526 XP

Your party has killed Royce Lamoureux - your experience share is 336 XP

Your party has killed Tom Jung- your experience share is 526 XP

Your party has killed Senapus Chaussée - your experience share is 526 XP

Your party has killed Hugues Dupuis - your experience share is 336 XP

Your party has killed Jan Propst - your experience share is 526 XP

Walking at a normal pace, when I reached the natural cavern, I didn’t see any Fang members - just the invisible forms of my team. I cancelled the invisibility to see Cloirdan and Kyle on the bridge and Felicia further back.

“It went just like you thought,” Kyle said wonderingly. “They just ran out screaming. I’m not sure they even noticed when I knocked them off the bridge.

“What did you show them?” Felicia asked wonderingly.

“Oh Felicia,” I said smugly. “My world holds such terrors, the like of which you can scarcely dream.”