Dem was once again resting with Dice listening to her stories of the party and its doings.

“You were in a tavern? You were there to kill a member of another party? Someone hired you to get revenge?” Making sense of Dice's stories was never easy.

“Yuh, buh Ka’miss ‘ook the ‘andsome uhns ‘way. Ka’miss ‘eft muh tha ug’ee ‘ig uhn.”

“I see, so Karmis lured the handsome one’s away and left you a ugly big one. To fight?”

She chuckled at me, “Ah, fout ‘im wi’ muh ‘lace. Ah wuh z’ore ‘ur ‘ree yikels. Eh wuh ‘ig!”

“You had sex with him, and your place was sore for three cycles. Got it.”

His mind turned in his head realizing there was an important piece missing.

“What was Wersa doing? Was she killing the target?”

“Nuh, Wu’sa ‘ook tha ‘igst uhn. Eh fout ‘ack, buh ‘ost.”

“Wersa took the biggest one, but he fought back and lost. Right?" She nodded.

He said a silent pray to the Divine Humanity for the poor man as he came to understand what Dice was saying.

“Did she.. wait, I don’t want to know. Who did the killing? Which one of you took the man you were targeting?”

“Eh ‘ot thar. Eh ‘ame lay-tah.”

“He wasn’t there? He came later? Why did you.. seduce the men if he wasn’t there?”

“Ah ‘illed ‘im ‘ile tha uh’ars ‘ept.”

“You killed the target while the others were sleeping. Is this a common strategy you use?”

“Nuh, Ka’miss ‘ooks ‘em mo’st ‘imes. Tuh ‘lit ‘em uh-p.”

“Karmis is the one who usually seduces them. Which splits them up. What do you and Wersa do usually?”

“Wuh’sa ‘ets thar uh-ten-shun, an’ ah, ‘nife ‘em.”

“So Karmis splits their party, Wersa distracts anyone left, and you knife them when they aren’t paying attention. That is amazing. I’m sure you do a great job.” He flattered her during these stories as best he could.

“Uh huh, ‘ank yuh.”

“So what happens to the ones Karmis takes? She has been eyeing me, you know? Should I be worried?”

“Uh duhn ef ah sh-ud ‘ay, buh Ka’mis ‘ills ‘em sum’imes.”

“She kills them sometimes? Got it, I won’t say anything if you don’t. I’ll be careful.”

“Gud, ah duhn wahn tu’ ‘ooze ’ur ‘ool.”

“I don’t want to lose my tool either.” She giggled as he said that, sounding younger than her scars would indicate, but she didn’t especially look sad at the thought he noticed with an internal grimace.

***

Dem's influence didn’t seem to be harming Dice, at the very least. The information he had gained had allowed him to better understand who he worked for. The party took jobs in cities, mostly centered around tracking down other adventurers, or hunting people who tried to run from a noble, or doing the bidding of anyone with the coin to hire Karmis and her companions. They occasionally took jobs that required murder, which is why Dice had been recruited. The whole party seemed to be formed around Karmis, with Wersa as her enforcer and protection, and Dice as her silent bloody hand. It occurred to him later, after he had gotten a number of stories out of Dice, that Karmis would kill him for knowing all this, but over time he felt more and more confident in his influence on Dice. Dice would be in trouble for telling him any of this, so she had no real incentive admit anything to Karmis. Still, he was under no illusion about Karmis potentially leaving his body out here if she found a reason. No one would avenge him, and no one would look for him. Out in the Wilds, adventurers were bound by virtually no law. Only contracts, like the one he was under, might serve as even the most meagre assurance of his safety.

He had been worried about the beasts of the night, but now he was worried about his party.

***

The night cycles would begin soon. The light began to wane, and the temperature dropped slightly. He had taught Dice as much as he could about the basics of the Wilds. What the different trees were, where to find a core in most beasts, where to find good places to make camp. He had gone over most of the kinds of greater beasts he knew of in the area. They hadn’t found much for hunting while he trained Dice. Ina killed most of the weaker beasts long before they arrived, and the greater beasts were probably finding shelter or preparing for the incoming night cycles. The best thing the party could do was hunker down high-up in their tree-camp, and fight off anything that became curious.

In the last several cycles, he hadn’t gotten much time for Ina or the grimoire. The former made him feel a bit lonely, Dice wasn’t really a comforting companion, and the latter still gave him an apprehensive feeling. What else would he learn from the grimoire? His Class made him either a monster or totally useless. Almost any Class he could think of would have been more useful to him or, at least, less morally confusing. He could only follow the guiding maxim of the Wilds, which was do what you had to for survival’s sake.

***

Dem returned with Dice back to the central camp, but it sparked little interest from Karmis and Wersa. Neither Karmis, nor Wersa, had much reason to leave the site over the last few cycles. The scouts hadn’t found much of note, and the two older women had little curiosity about the Wilds themselves. He suspected that he and Ina, when they'd nearly died, had already killed the three most arrogant greater beasts in the area, or perhaps most of the beasts in the area were simply in hiding due to the night cycle’s approach. Some beasts found a den and slept through the night cycles, not any more daring to leave their homes than humans.

Karmis always took Dice aside whenever they returned, quickly asking her a few questions. Karmis whispered these questions to Dice, but his hearing made it rather easy to listen in. The questions were mostly about if they had seen anything out of the ordinary, what they had done, and what he was teaching her. She bragged each time to Karmis about her conquest of him, or perhaps his conquest of her, making Karmis angry each time. She liked to give details, which usually made Karmis order her to be quiet. Despite her anger, Karmis' interest was mostly in what they had seen.

He quickly became convinced there must be something out here worth looking for. He didn’t dare ask Dice directly, that would be too obvious. He wasn’t even supposed to know they were looking for something in particular. Whatever this thing was probably had something to do with the parties going north. This party had bet on a different direction, perhaps because no one else was coming this way. If they did find something, they would get to keep it because no one would be around to take it from them. It was an unlikely, but safe bet. What they were looking for specifically, Karmis never mentioned, even to Dice.

***

The party had him worried, but the night was the most immediate threat. He asked the party for a moment to explain what he could about what would soon happen. He had Dice’s attention for good or ill, but Karmis and Wersa were hardly paying attention to his lesson. Despite their boredom, he spoke in a serious tone.

He told them the temperature would drop further, the light would slowly extinguish, a mist would begin to wind its way through the trees. The ground would grow wet and muddy. The trees slick with a sort of perspiration or condensation. Small streams of free flowing water would form on the ground, winding through the roots of trees. There were beasts that would creep out from cracks in the ground and trees.

He spoke of mist-fish, which spent most of its life, stuck to a tree, deflated, thin, perfectly camouflaged. During night cycles it would expand and lengthen, its teeth would grow, and it would ride the ribbons of mist through the Wilds looking for something to eat. Gargoyle-bats would fly above the trees in huge flocks, each half the height of a human adult and stronger than a lesser vine ape. They mostly preyed on other flying beasts, but occasionally they would roost for a while, digesting their meals on the upper branches of trees. Their calls were intense and distinct. Like a thousand torturous screams happening at the same time.

He spoke about massive pit-toads that hid underground, with mouths so large, beasts would walk into them thinking them a safe den or a cave. The worst part was what happened to the unlucky beast once it was inside the cavernous pit-toad. Despite the toad’s large mouth, its stomach and esophagus were surprisingly small. It used more than a dozen spined, tentacle-like, tongues, to literally grind its prey into an easy to digest slurry. It was a mercifully fast end, at least. Each new beast he described, set his heart palpitating. These were the cautionary tales of his childhood. This was the information that kept people alive in the hamlets.

He went on and on for while, but eventually lost his audience. They didn’t seem particularly impressed, though he did not ask why. Karmis did prepare some new trinkets and some extra spells around their camp. Wersa brought in a supply of wood for a fire. The fire and its light, would drive some of the more sensitive beasts away. Dice just sharpened her blades, yawning. He spent some time checking on this alarm trinkets, but he wasn’t sure they would work against flying beasts. The spell was oriented towards sound and vibration. Mist-fish made no sounds.

Ina moved in overheard. She would guard the area above their heads. In some ways she was perfectly made for night cycles. She could see well in the dark and blend in even better. She'd had plenty of time now to get used to her new form and he was pretty confident in her abilities, though he wish he'd gotten to spend more time with her.

Night cycles were unpredictable, so no matter his confidence, he was concerned. He was nearly equally concerned about having to spend so much time in close quarters with the party. Their lack of interest in the night did not bode well for them protecting him. Parties had to work together in the Wilds, and doubly so at night.

What could he do to make Ina and himself more safe? Monsters out there and monsters here. He could.. use some of his other spells. He hadn’t originally thought there wasn’t much use to them, but after hearing just how merciless and secretive Karmis was, he was starting to actually consider their use. Could he? He wasn't sure. The real problem was that the grimoire, though terrifying and ominous, wasn't blatantly evil. It didn't require terrible things of him necessarily. There were Classes and Paths that require blood, sacrfice, and all manner of other horror. He had to admit though the power offered by the grimoie was enticing, especially if it kept him safe.