The trip back to the encampment was thankfully uneventful. They only stopped briefly to pack up the tent Balrim and Myrin had pitched a little ways down along the stream.

Kaldalis thought about showing them the ruins. They’d want to mark it down for future exploration. But he balked when he realized that there was a faster route back to the encampment along the path Balrim and Myrin had taken, rather than the circuitous route he’d forged through the undergrowth.

He’d just have to share later.

The group made it back to the camp faster than he’d expected originally. It was only just after two in the morning, by his estimation.

“I’ll walk Dalgaard back to their tent,” Balrim said. “Why don’t you two get to sleep? You’re both way worse than I am about getting to bed on time. If you get hit with the fatigue debuff tomorrow, you know that’s the day the Infernal Horde will strike.”

Kaldalis nodded to the talsar’s solid logic. “Thank you,” he said, and then he turned to Dalgaard and put a hand on the healer’s shoulder. “If you need anything, come find me, okay?”

Dalgaard didn’t have anything to say to that. They simply let Balrim lead them away towards where the adventurers’ tents were set up.

Kaldalis grimaced and watched them go. There was no way he could ever atone for the consequences of his irresponsibility. If the kid wanted out of this world, he’d do what he could to help. Not that there was much he could do, other than message Nakala.

“I’d tell you not to beat yourself up about them,” Myrin said at last when the two were alone in the encampment gate, “but honestly you probably should. The only way you’ll be smarter next time is if you never forget the consequences this time.”

“Way ahead of you,” Kaldalis said with a grimace. “Even if Dalgaard gets over this, I don’t think I ever will. I thought I was doing enough.” He shook his head, trying desperately to not think of inhuman eyes in the night. “I was so careless, though. It was only a matter of time before someone got hurt. I just wish it hadn’t been like this. It should have just been someone getting slapped around a little. Not tortured by a sadistic-”

“Kaldalis!” The voice boomed out of the darkness suddenly. It made him jump nearly out of his skin, given the hour. “What do you think you’re doing?”

Onirioago emerged from the shadows in a manner reminiscent of the irritator crashing out of the undergrowth only a few hours prior. Her teeth were bared in an expression of rage that Kaldalis actually found refreshing. After being eye-banged by a crazy snake-spider-lady, being spared more of the same from her was actually kind of nice.

Even if he was probably about to die.

At the very least, Onirioago didn’t appear to be in a state to threaten to fuck him first.

“I have your precious prize,” Kaldalis said in a sharp tone. “I just returned with it after one of the most harrowing experiences of my life. Thanks for being concerned.”

Onirioago shot a glare at Myrin, but kept her lips pressed tight together.

“Get out of here,” Kaldalis said, gesturing for Myrin to go with a sharp tilt of his head. “I’ll finish this up and we’ll talk in the morning.”

Myrin shrugged. “If you’re sure...” Despite the trailing off, she was already walking away. With how much Onirioago seemed to fixate on him, Kaldalis often forgot about how uncomfortable she made Myrin, too. “Good luck.”

“Yes,” Onirioago said, her glare losing no intensity when she redirected it at Kaldalis. “Good luck.”

“I got your stupid fish,” Kaldalis said, lowering his voice to a whisper. “Just take it and be done.”

He mentally opened his inventory and reached for the silvery thing in the interface that filled his vision. Sky-blue fingers snapped over his own in a crushing grip, stopping him.

“Are you insane?” Onirioago hissed. “Not here!” She looked sharply to her left and then right before she turned around and stormed away.

Since she was still holding his hand, she dragged him along.

Kaldalis realized where they were going soon enough.

It was back to her tent.

He’d been there once before. When he’d gone to retrieve the censer during the first Infernal Horde raid. But he hadn’t been back since. And he’d never been there with Onirioago.

When they got to the tent, she roughly shoved him in ahead of herself. It meant she blocked the entryway as she followed him in.

Earlier that same day, he had worried about being alone with her. She seemed intent on attaching herself to him romantically - or perhaps only sexually - without regard for his own feelings.

Not he was worried about that right now, because she looked like she was going to murder him.

Then again, given the rest of his night, murder was a nice change. As long as she didn’t start getting undressed, he had some hope at a normal social interaction, even if the primary emotion driving it was anger.

“How much do they know?” she demanded.

“Nothing!” Kaldalis said, only half lying. He waved his hand towards his quest log, as if she could see it. “If I told anyone about this stupid quest, I fail it, right?”

The expedition leader glared at him in silence. For a moment, he feared she was seeing through his lie. What if him giving away little snippets of information was something she could see?

What if the quest wasn’t set to fail until word got back to her how much he’d said? What if it was all for nothing?

“Give it to me, then,” she said, holding out her hand. “Quickly.”

“It wasn’t easy.” Kaldalis retrieved the silver-scaled fish from his inventory and passed it over to her. “And I don’t know if you should expect anyone else to go out and get them. I ran into something you wouldn’t believe existed.”

Onirioago took the fish from him and held it up in front of her face, examining it closely. She took her time opening its mouth and poking at its fangs, running a finger over its scales.

“Did you hear me? I ran into a monster that took human form. She talked with a human voice. She was smart, held a conversation. And then she became a sadistic monster that tried to punish me for resisting her attacks.”

“I’ll take care of it, don’t worry,” Onirioago said as she turned the fish over in her hands.

Was she even talking to him? Was she even listening?

She seemed to only have eyes for the fish.

Surprisingly, that pissed Kaldalis off. He forgot all about how much he was afraid of her. “Are you even fucking listening to me? It was a monster that I couldn’t distinguish from a person.” Kaldalis snapped his fingers in front of her face. “Doesn’t that alarm you? What if there are more of them? What if there’s another one in camp right this second?”

Onirioago glared at him. “I thought I just told you not to worry.” She tucked the fish away in her own inventory. “I want a full report. Where did you go, and how did you catch it?”

Kaldalis thought about arguing, but her glare made him change his mind. With a sigh he ran his hands through his hair, carefully avoiding his horns. “We followed the stream up through the jungle. Until we found a spring-fed lake in a clearing. It was actually a very pretty area. If it weren’t for the horrifying monster that swore bloody revenge on me with her last breath, it’d be a beautiful camping spot.”

“We?” Onirioago asked, narrowing her eyes. “What, did you have a mouse in your pocket?”

“You expected me to wander out into the jungle on my own?” Kaldalis asked, knowing she couldn’t very well admit that she’d orchestrated the situation to isolate him. “I found someone who needed help with their own quest, and they helped me with mine. But I didn’t tell them a word about it. Their help involved keeping me from getting isolated and slain by monsters. They didn’t see what I was after at all.”

“Who?” Onirioago demanded. When Kaldalis didn’t answer immediately, she snarled. “Tell me, or you’ll fail the quest.”

Kaldalis frowned. “Their name is Dalgaard. I haven’t worked with them before, so they were okay with me being tight-lipped about the quest.” He looked around, feeling a little bit trapped in her cluttered tent. “Are we done here?”

She glared at him for a moment longer, as if trying to decide if she wanted to call him a liar now, or wait until some unspecified later date. As much as he wasn’t confident in his ability to talk his way out of this situation if she did, he was confident that she didn’t have any proof. All things considered, he was sure hadn’t told anyone enough to cause his quest to fail.

“Fine. One more thing… What bait did you use, in case I need to send someone else out for more of this?”

“A simple spinner lure,” he said, lying.

He didn’t know why he lied. It was just instinct around her.

“Alright,” she said, stepping out of the entryway to the tent and gesturing him out. “You’re dismissed, then. Get out of here.”

Kaldalis didn’t hesitate. He hurried out.

As he left, the quest on the right side of his vision flashed with a little chime before fading away. He received guild credits as a reward for the quest, and he was grateful for that. Getting out of the tent with his dignity intact was reward enough.

A few dozen guild credits were just gravy.

He wondered if he’d made the right choice lying about the tackle he’d used for the deacon tetra. On the one hand, if this quest was actually as sinister as her behavior made it seem, then stopping her from catching any more with the deception would be the right thing to do.

But if the shifty behavior was an act of some sort, and the fish was going to be helpful to the town, then he’d just made a critical mistake.