The next day I dragged my sore self from bed, stretching as I prepared to sally out. Baen awaited me outside, having gained the poison from Elli. Considering that I wasn’t here to help out with their daily routine, it didn’t make sense to me to take it for free. Elli firmly disagreed with me.

“You’re the one who went to gather the plants, and you’re already paying for food and board, I don’t see why I can’t help out for free.” She said with a smile, pushing my hand away. Have to admit, it made me uncomfortable not to pay her for it, I liked my dealings concrete and ironclad, if you ever noticed. I nodded to her gratefully even so, far be it for me to spurn hospitality.

Arriving at Haen a tense atmosphere greeted me, with a perimeter tighter than I’d seen at most farms I’d been at. It was Jerrin that came to greet me, Rael seemingly nowhere to be found. “Nice to see you.” Jerrin said, his face bearing all the cheer of a stone statue.

“Slime problem?” I asked, part of me hoping it was so simple.

“That direction.” He said, pointing outwards. “They’re mostly from that side.” I nodded, moving in the direction. “Wait.” He called out, I turned back to see his eyes narrowed. “The gnolls, did Hrothan say anything about the gnolls?”

I frowned under the helmet, considering. “I didn’t ask.” I lied. “I’m not sure what their course of action will be in regard to them.” I signalled for Baen to follow, making sure that Baen had no time to contradict me either by his face or his words.

“Why did you lie?” Baen asked, walking up besides me out the farm, a hint of an accusation in his voice. “I was there when they told you that they would be watching.”

I didn’t answer, leading him out of sight in the forest. “Jerrin.” I said. “That’s the name of the man just now. He was the sole survivor of the messenger group sent to fetch me to deal with the gnolls.” I explained, turning to face him, staring straight into his eyes as his eyes bored into my faceplate. “He lost his friends, and Yinea, who might’ve been more to him.” I breathed out. “Let’s just say I wouldn’t be surprised if he jeopardized any chance at peace they may have had.”

“How can you be sure the gnolls want peace?” Baen asked. “Even with Arrgyk, they can lie.”

I gritted my teeth. He was right, though I didn’t think that Arrgyk was such a person, was that because he saved me, or something else… I shook my head, that wasn’t important right now. “We need to deal with the slime right now, if you want, we’ll discuss this later.” I said. He seemed to flinch, nodding as he followed me again. Now I feel bad. I sighed, careful not to let him hear.

[Do you think we should pay them a visit? Their reactions might be illuminating.] Page asked. [I can also perform limited threat analysis.]

I shook my head lightly. Let’s not think about that right now. I spotted the first slime easily enough. I quickly explained my methodology, and we began, Baen’s sword swiftly slicing chunks off the slimes. I led, mostly because my armour was more likely to take a hit and come out alright than his. When the slime came this time I was prepared.

The nice thing about having a partner is that it gave me enough courage to experiment. I drew out a previously measured portion of the poison, mixing it into the creature’s body from the gash left after a strong slash. It shuddered, rushing forward all of a sudden. I leapt out of the way though it caught my leg. I snarled, pushing myself upright. It seemed to scream at me, rippling and once again attempting to barrel at me.

I motioned Baen to stay back, if the poison entered his mouth or eyes that would be the last I saw of him, alive at least. I inserted another dose of poison, and it crumpled, though not before sending me into a tree with a blast of slime. I groaned, shaking the ringing from my skull, and looked to the slime that was rapidly deflating, forming a pool on the floor. “I guess that’s how we do it…”

I set myself on fire once we’d left the forest again, this time moving towards where I’d heard the Kokoro Brethren lay. “You should head back.” I told Baen. “Not too sure if they’ll even give me the time of day, but worst case if you don’t hear from me by night tomorrow, report to Hrothan.” I passed him the parchments about the other cases we had to deal with, and told Lapi to follow him.

He watched me, his eyebrows knitted together. “Be safe.” He had said worriedly, putting away the parchments. Lapi didn’t resist, which was a little strange. I stood at the edge, wondering how I would approach the tribe. I figured I should move before some guard saw me and raised an alarm. I walked close, holding up my open hands, though I’d stiffened most other parts. I’d even managed a throat guard the other day, my design returning to more closely resemble the original design.

A guard shouted something as I came into view, and it didn’t take much to understand that he wanted me to stop. I stood there, watching as his bows remained at the ready. Drawing it would be idiotic, considering the strength needed to keep it at full draw. If he drew, it would be because he already intended to shoot me. At which point I’d need to start running. Even so, it was strange how few people there were on the walls. Some others came running, shifting on their feet as they watched me stand just a short distance away.

They seemed to whisper to one another as they watched me, until Arrgyk exited the gate. “What exactly are you attempting?” He asked, watching me somewhat cautiously. I wonder if he’d heard of what had transpired over at Torven, did he fear that I was here due to a change of mind?

“I’m here to talk to you.” I replied, levelly. “There are some things I’d rather like explained.”

He sighed, waving me in, though he asked me to leave my weapons at the door of his home. I considered it for a moment, ultimately agreeing to his request, but kept them within eyeshot. He sat heavily, turning to me. “You realize that your deeds have already spread?”

I cocked my head slightly, eyebrow arched and faceplate removed. “That fast?” I asked, curiosity tinging my voice. “I wouldn’t really be surprised for the other settlements, but where do your rumours come from?”

He rolled his eyes. “There are other neutral gnoll settlements?” He said. “One of their hunters passed by recently, talking about how the army was utterly crushed, completely obliterated.” He remarked. “I think he exaggerated, though I doubt he was far from the truth.” He turned aside, hesitating a moment, before he stood and moved to grab a pitcher. He then poured out a drink for himself and I, taking a sip from his own cup.

I accepted the drink, unsure how hospitality worked for gnoll culture. Some of the other gnolls lingered outside, glancing my way when they thought I wasn’t looking. Their glances seemed both fearful and curious. “They aren’t specifically about me.” I said with a shrug. “What I wanted to talk about was regarding them.” I stated, and his expression soured.

“What do you want to know? If we sympathise?” He said, voice firm and calm. “I do not. The people who did have already left, and I would not shed tears if they died by your hand.” I looked into his eyes, searching. He held my gaze as silence began to hang in the air.

I relaxed, seeing nothing duplicitous, wasn’t the end all of course, I’ve never had a chance to prove whether I was a good judge of character. I sighed. “I told Hrothan, they said they’ll keep watch, try to keep both of you from killing each other, and perhaps send a messenger over. I want to know why the other gnolls chose their path.” His mouth turned into a slight frown, didn’t even know snouts could do that, but then again if it were truly canine I guess he wouldn’t be speaking normally.

“Simply put we came into our own too late. You humans had already formed your own advanced civilizations, using technology you’d invented yourself or learned from either the elves or the dwarves.” He explained, slumping back into his seat. “Paru was jealous and worried, he feared that one day you would decide to either enslave, evict, or exterminate us. He hoped to conquer one of your civilizations so he could learn from what you held and establish us as a force. Instead he’s put us even further behind, perhaps irredeemably destroying our image.”

I tasted the drink, a fairly refreshing mix of some herb, and what I thought was tea. I savoured the taste for a moment, setting it back down. “I see.” I replied, unsure what I could say to that.

“He was charismatic, and drew many people to his banner by drawing on their fears, afraid to be powerless or at another’s mercy. So they formed up, and our already tense relations with human governance sped things up. The demon invasion simply provided the opening Paru was willing to wait decades for, right at his doorstep.” Arrgyk continued, and his eyes hardened. “For what he’s done to me, may his soul rot at the Pass.” He took another sip. “I have nothing more to say on the matter.”

I nodded, finishing the drink and letting him take the cups away. I stood, thanking him for his time, to which he replied with a non-committal grunt, and exiting the door. I took the time to look around while replacing my faceplate and my weapons. They had graves, more in line to what I had seen back home, but with a sapling planted on each one. One looked very new, the sapling obviously less than even a month old. I frowned to myself, securing my sword and moving to leave.

The guards watched me as I left, tense and nervous. I pushed into the forest, following directions I’d asked from them. Something slammed into my back, sending me stumbling forward in surprise. A glancing blow struck off my head, and I rolled aside, vision blurring. A swordsman stood ahead, clad in leather. I drew my sword as another stone struck me in the right shoulder, I winced as a crack made itself heard. Three, one sling, one sword, one spear.

A rustling sound made me dodge to the right, a spear pinning my leg down. The other man took the chance to strike at my head, I wrenched the spear from my leg and hopped back, gritting my teeth against the pain. I moved continuously, weaving to dodge their strikes, yet unable to land any of my own, I had started this fight on the backfoot, I had to press the attack somehow.

I snarled as the next strike took me in the knee, hobbling away from them. I’d made light strikes against them, not nearly debilitating at all. Now that I’d taken a good look, I recognized the swordsman. Jerrin? I thought. What is he doing here? A strangled cry startled the others, and I pushed myself aside, sneaking a glance toward the sling user. Lapi had pushed him down, and was now at his throat. That makes up for before I guess. I lunged at the other two. Jerrin. You’re lucky I want you alive.