The ravager threat to Reach was perhaps small, but the town took it seriously and within ten minutes of Keana’s discussion with the Mayor, the town’s bell tower began chiming. Within another ten minutes, guards could be seen bustling about, rolling barrels of oil out the front gate, and carrying an assortment of supplies up to the walls. Shortly thereafter, guards went from store to store and home to home, announcing a meeting in the central square.

Val, Keana, Pepper and Sar stood awkwardly in the milling, chattering crowd, Princess having slinked off long ago. Many approached them, but none of the four felt like telling stories; they fled, Arn died, what was there to say? Finally, Mayor Stillwater raised his hands and called for silence.

“Friends, welcome. A little over an hour ago, I received word that the ravager swarm emerged a year early from a group of adventurers. I’ve just learned that the first of our scouts have returned, confirming beasts fleeing north towards the town. As such, we’ll consider the reports confirmed, and we are preparing for a full-scale assault by tens of thousands of ravagers. Probably won’t happen. One hundred years ago, however, they came. The town didn’t have a moat, the walls were uneven stone and two feet lower, and we had thousands of them in the walls. Not all of the dwellings held, we lost forty-seven people. So you can understand why we are taking this seriously. The town is on lock down, no one in or out without my approval. All militia are now on active status. Report to the barracks for orders. In the event the ravagers are spotted leaving the forest, we’ll sound the bells again and we’ll have about five minutes. The gates will close, the moat will be fired, and adventurers are required to report to the walls. That is the law. ‘I slept through it in the Inn’ wont fly. You’ll spend thirty days in jail, and you’ll pay hefty fines. Basically we’ll take your shit. Don’t do it. In the unlikely event we have to retreat from the walls, you guessed it, the bells. Lock down will end four days from now.”

Night found the four drinking in the inn. Val decided to break the ice and get into it. “So. I hear that a huge chunk of the forest will be pretty much stripped of beasts. But the ravagers don’t eat bones, they don’t eat cores, and they don’t eat several different types of poisonous but valuable herbs. All the groups will be out harvesting. Should we ask around for a tank?” Three stares met his words, and Val felt as though his words were bouncing their way down a bottomless pit. Sar finally spoke, while one hand reached into his pack for reassurance. “Arn is alive. I feel it.” Pepper chimed in noting, “well…the Mayor did say they don’t climb trees. And the big bastard IS hard to kill. Its not impossible.” Keana slammed her mug down on the table, shouting “Hells yes! Of course he is alive! We go get the big bastard! Sneak out early if we can!”

* * *

Scholars have long observed that dreams seem necessary. Those with very high constitution numbers that sleep for only a few hours a night, or even more so a few hours every few nights, tend to dream often and extremely vividly. Historians have chronicled lengthy lists of vivid dreams impacting history. In one noted example, King Veridian the Eighth, then known as “the Just,” dreamed his wife was engaging in unnatural sexual acts with his favorite hound, and on waking killed both in a fit of rage. –Excerpt from the ancient “Guide To The Divine Attributes,” author unknown.

Arn flew through clouds on a giant swooping phoenix wreathed in flames, laughing wildly as his legs endlessly burned and regenerated. Spotting his hometown, he landed and was greeted by wild cheering for "the Phoenix Titan!" Looking around, Arn noticed Keana and Liara dancing lasciviously, and quickly became inflamed with desire. Arn hurriedly dismounted and went to join the fun. As Arn walked, Keana and Liara seemed to get further and further away, and mist closed in on all sides. Arn noticed that Kiana and Liara were taking their clothes off as they danced, caressing and teasing. Arn shouted, but neither reacted! In growing horror, Arn realized they didn’t know he was there, and were dancing only for each other! Arn ran and ran, getting no closer. As Keana and Liara began to kiss, Arn bellowed “noooo!” and tripped over a rock. As he tried to stand, the village children appeared from the mist with daggers, led by a laughing Alys.

Arn woke with a piercing scream and tried to rise in a panic, thrashing wildly. Arn’s knot-tying skills proved no match for his newfound strength and panic, and Arn thrashed his way free of the ropes securing him to the trunk of the tree. Lucidity returned quickly, and Arn recalled he was in a tree in the forest – just as he slid to the right losing his perch. The ropes securing Arn to the branch held his legs securely, while his torso swung upside-down and banged into the trunk while yo-yoing like a pendulum. Arn reflexively yelled in panic, then, realizing the ropes securing his legs were holding, took a deep breath to calm himself. Ok, I can . . . Arn’s legs started to slide out of the ropes, prompting Arn to immediate action. Arn did the equivalent of an upside down sit-up, and grabbed on to the bottom of the ropes. Stable, Arn pondered whether to cut himself free or somehow rotate . . . chittering. It can’t be. Hells, NOT NOW! Arn craned his neck and saw his worst fear realized. Ravagers. Climbing.

Arn stretched his arms up and around the branch, basically hugging the branch around his ankles, and tried to swing himself up and around. Nothing. Arn wiggled his butt back and forth, building momentum, and tried again once he got a bit of rotation. Arn dug his nails into the bark and twisted, grabbed and made it most of the way around, frantically grabbing the branch and trying to twist himself the rest of the way. Finally upright, Arn worked the knots as quickly as he could, while the chittering neared. As he finished, ravagers started biting his back. Arn grabbed and flung off two he could reach, took four big scoots down the branch and swung his left leg over the other side of the branch, forcing himself into a split and dislodging several ravagers. Digging in with his hands, Arn brought his other leg around. Arn somehow succeeded, but quickly found himself with a lap full of ravagers. Arn drew his daggers and started stabbing and flinging, but more kept coming. For every one that stopped to bite his legs, another leaped for his arms or torso. Arn’s daggers flickered faster than old Arn would have thought possible, but he took many wounds and the stream of ravagers did not seem to be abating.

Finally, on the edge of desperation, Arn belatedly remembered his Scream, aiming a foot in front of his crotch. As the ravagers stilled and several fell off the branch, Arn flicked a few off his legs and arms, and scooted backwards aiming for a narrower and more defensible perch. After a few scoots, he realized there was still one on his back, and he awkwardly twisted and stabbed, knocking it off after a few thrusts. As more ravagers began crawling over and around their stunned comrades, Arn Screamed again, knocking more off. Arn resumed scooting.

As the branch thinned to twice the girth of his leg, Arn stopped and started stabbing. With the narrower approach, Arn found his rhythm, and was able to deal with the occasional leaper while still sweeping the branch. As Arn focused on the killing, he lost track of time until he suddenly noticed the ravagers had stopped coming. Arn shouted, “come at me! I’m the flipping Phoenix Titan!” Shocked at his idiotic tempting of fate, Arn looked down and saw the ravagers had given up. The few still on the trunk were heading back to the ground.

Arn counted the kill notifications – Fifty one. Fifty one! Felt more like three hundred! Maybe some of the ones I knocked off lived? Arn settled in to wait, waited, and waited some more. After an interminable time doing absolutely nothing, Arn wondered if there was any chance he could actually get Keana and Liara to dance. Or wrestle. As Arn got excited, he banished his thoughts. Nope! Not tempting fate by doing THAT here. With my luck…nope!