Geffery Karlsson was a man of habits. Ever since he'd joined Krystal's caravan his daily life had followed a set pattern. Follow the caravan, protect the caravan. Warn of dangers in the wild, warn of dangers in the villages and towns. The caravan would travel from town to town and rarely stay more than a week or two in the same place. Yet there he stood, in the middle of Ogon, the village of bards, 3 weeks behind schedule.

The first 2 weeks delay was understandable. The wagons had been broken by that madman Jerry. Repairing them had been next to impossible and building new wagons took time. Understandable. Justified. But the new wagons had been finished last week. So why was Geffery still here?

The answer to that question walked past him. Krystal whistled absentmindedly as she walked through the village. Geffery was tempted to run up to her and question her about the delay for perhaps the 100th time. He wasn't keeping count on how many times he'd pestered her about it but he had a feeling she did. Every time he'd start the subject with her she'd go all grumpy and give him vague answers like "When we're done here." or "After stuff's calmed down."

Geffery stomped the ground once. Whyyyy was she so invested in this village all of sudden? Her caravan hadn't stayed a day too much in any town before. Klepper had been set in flames once but she'd still gotten her caravan on the road in time. Some gang had tried to delay them in Pontro once. They'd taken some merchants hostage and everything. Yet when the sun rose and it was time to leave that redhead had appeared from some alley with the lost merchants towing behind her. How could she let something as unreal as some forest fairy delay her?! For weeks?!

It wasn't even a real danger. Sure the villagers had freaked out about a swarm of bees the other day. Geffery hadn't been there himself to see the swarm. He'd been busy checking on the wagons and making sure Jerry hadn't gone near them again. Being so far behind schedule was really annoying. What sane person would scream their lungs out about some bees? Big ass horses. Sure. The people of Ogon were all insane. Too many fairy tales and drunken singing in the tavern.

He watched Krystal stop to talk with the mayor. Short, black haired man with a freckled face. A little chubby perhaps. And just as crazy as his village. The fool had lost his son to some bandits, a tragedy for sure. But then, the other kidnapped people had returned and spouted nonsense about the forest god saving them or something. A wolf that turned into a human then into a troll then back to human. The witnesses were so confused about what they'd seen that they couldn't even decide how many eyes it had.

It must have been a wolf or a bear or some other big animal. Too starved to fear humans probably, so it went and attacked the bandits and the villagers saw it as some divine being protecting them from evil.

Geffery spat on the ground. Superstitious nonsense. There are enough real things to fear in the world, like monsters, man-eating animals, evil people, man-eating people. The list goes on forever so don't go adding gods and demons to it. Geffery was not a religious man. Monks and priests claiming their powers came from some divine being should make some time in between their praying and rituals to consider the more obvious reasons. Powers and supernatural abilities come from Skills, not plant-people that bleed gold and dragons born from acorns that call themselves divine beings.

Was Krystal religious? Was that why she insisted on staying in Ogon even when the merchants of her caravan had had enough? Maybe... Geffery grumbled. Wasn't that monk a follower of Mother Nature? A Forest Guardian would be related to Mother Nature right? Was he the one who'd tricked Krystal? He and his dancer friend had fled the village when they became suspected of murder...

Murder, crazy forest god worshipping... Geffery gasped. It all made sense now!

"Cultists!"

He swore to himself and started running the way Krystal had gone. The monk and the dancer were cultists that worship the Forest God thing and now they're spreading their teachings secretly in the village! They're corrupting Krystal! He must warn her!

Geffery nearly tripped over a dog as he ran. The black and white dog barked at him once then took off in between some houses. Geffery huffed then kept running.

The dog watched the man go from the shade of a house. The silly human looked like he'd solved the mystery of life and didn't like the answer. The dog made a sound much like a chuckle then shifted. Bones cracked and moved as they slid into new positions under its shiny fur. The dog became a cat in a matter of seconds. Pohc inspected himself to make sure he got all the details right. Shiny black fur with white socks. He looked like any other stray cat in the village now. Satisfied with his new form, the 'cat' trotted down the alley. He avoided other animals as best as he could while sneaking around the village. They always got confused and scared about his smell. He couldn't change his smell so it always conflicted with the shapes he took. Thankfully humans didn't have a good enough nose to notice that huge giveaway.

Pohc smirked as he sat down in the sun outside a shop. People walked around, tending to their everyday business without noticing anything out of place with the black and white cat. An older lady even went to pet him. He purred in delight and the woman giggled at him. His disguise was perfect.

He spent some time basking in the sun before rising to do what he'd come to the village for. It took some time finding Krystal and when he finally did find her he noticed that the human from before was bothering her.

"No no no don't you see? They must be cultists! They-"

"Geffery for the last time, Johna and Noah are not cultists!"

The man kept going on about his theory much to Krystal's annoyance. She glanced behind him and noticed the cat sitting there. The intensely yellow eyes betrayed its disguise to anyone who knew what it meant. Pohc yawned loudly, causing Geffery to spin around in fright. Krystal lifted an eyebrow and said in a monotone voice:

"Is the cat a cultist too?"

Pohc flopped down on the ground and started cleaning his paws. Geffery stared at him for a second too long. Krystal almost suspected he would say "yes, it must be a cat cultist!" but thankfully the man still had some sanity left.

"Don't be silly..."

"You're hesitating. Better interrogate it. Ask it who it works for."

Geffery glared at Krystal. Pohc yawned again.

"I'm not dumb enough to suspect a cat of being a cultist..."

"No? But you got nothing better to do, so might as well make sure it's not a spy or something."

"... I would have things to do if we left the village already. We're way behind schedule, the merchants are getting annoyed as well now."

Krystal crossed her arms and thought for a moment. Geffery fidgeted and waited for a response. The cat meowed.

"Fine, I'll be staying in Ogon for awhile longer so you may take the merchants to Pirn by yourself. If you need guards then ask the mayor to lend you some."

Geffery stared at Krystal in disbelief.

"You're abandoning the caravan?!"

"No, you fool. I need to stay in Ogon for some time and we both know that the merchants won't be happy to spend any more time here than necessary. If we want to keep them in the caravan then we need to leave as soon as possible. But I can't leave yet so I leave it to you."

"You can't!"

"Could you pretend to not be a paranoid lil coward for like 3 weeks? You might even manage to trick yourself into it being true if lucky."

"I can't lead the caravan!!"

"Yes, you can. You're just going to Pirn. Simple fishing and mining village. The merchants will do what merchants do there without needing any help. Being chief of the caravan is not that hard. Then when they feel done in Pirn you bring the caravan back here and I'll take over again. Follow the road. There is one road. If you stray from the road you'll either end up in Feytale forest or in Wyrmtail swamp. If you go too far then you'll be in the sea. Not even you should be able to get lost. Shouldn't take more than a month to go there and come back. You can do it Geffery."

".... You really think so?"

"A blind bull could do it so I'm pretty sure you could too."

"Pretty sure..."

"Yes! So go tell the merchants and ask the mayor about borrowing some guards. Johna and Noah will not be going with you and being the only guard and caravan chief might be a bit too much of a challenge for a first-timer like you."

"May I ask why you're staying in the village for so long though?"

"I'm not joining a cult."

"Yes, but..."

"Me and the mayor have been friends for a long time. He might not look like it but he's still grieving losing his son. It's hard for him so I'm staying with him to make sure he gets better."

"I see. There was a good reason for it after all then..."

"Of course there was. Now off with you! Go assemble your caravan!"

"Yes, ma'am!"

Pohc watched with amusement as Geffery ran off to assume his new role as temporary caravan chief. He sat up and stretched before giving his newly re-shaped vocal cords a try.

"Off he goes."

"Off he goes indeed. So it really is you, Pohc."

"Did you notice before I spoke?"

"Yes, those eyes are hard to mistake. All you dungeon beasts have way too colorful eyes. It sets you apart from normal animals."

"I see. I cannot change the way my eyes look... Changing my eyelids to look like eyes only works for a short time though... I'll have to figure something out."

"Are you here to discuss shape-shifting? I don't have much knowledge on that subject."

"No no, I'm here to see how the village is doing. Do you think it's ready to meet us officially yet?"

"I don't think it'll ever be 'ready' but close to it maybe. There are lots of stories about you guys by now."

"Hm hm."

The cat scratched an itch away while thinking.

"Any bloody stories? Reasons to be hostile?"

"Not really. Some say the Guardian ate the bandits but since the bandits were enemies of the village it shouldn't be seen as something bad."

"Good. I'll go back and tell the others. If all goes well then we should make an appearance pretty soon."

"Let's hope it goes well. If it doesn't then there'll be fighting. Lots of it."

"I'm sure our Queen can handle it well. She befriended both rodents and goats despite being of neither group. That should be proof of her greatness! Surely her greatness will sway the humans as well!"

"If you say so."

Tha cat and the caravan merchant then said their goodbyes and the cat became a dog that quickly ran into the forest far from human eyes. Krystal watched it go and wondered to herself if Geffery was right in a way. Those rodents could probably be called a cult...