Achilles’s first thought was that, since the Hirelings all had classes, they were probably still alive and only unconscious.

But looking around and realizing that none of them had system information available showed him the truth.

They were all dead.

“Monkeys. I can’t believe it,” said Achilles. “And they were very intelligent. I’ve seen a few in my life, but those all seemed as stupid as babies. These were smart enough to attack in a group, to use weapons, to take prisoners, and to finish off enemies with classes. Is this normal for them out here?”

Medea cleaned her daggers and re-sheathed them. She took a few glances around at the dead Hirelings. “No. You’re right. Monkeys are normally intelligent, but nowhere near as smart as humans. There’s some kind of magic at work here. We may have found out the reason caravan companies keep disappearing on their way to the Frontier.”

Achilles frowned. “I just don’t understand it. I could understand them taking Captain Kestrel prisoner, since he’s probably rich and they can hold him for ransom, but why carry away some Hirelings and leave the rest?”

“Monkeys holding someone for ransom? I suppose anything’s possible. I think you’re right on your second point. Whoever the monkeys are working for has something sinister planned for their prisoners that has nothing to do with money.”

Achilles looks around. “Especially since they didn’t take any of the trade goods we were bringing to the frontier. Look, they left the little chest of money that Captain Kestrel was using as a pillow.”

Medea nodded. “Well, nothing for it but to track them down. We told Captain Kestrel we’d guard him, and I suppose this is the next step.”

Achilles looked in the direction their captain had been dragged. He hoped the monkeys were dragging everybody to the same place, and that they only split up with the Hirelings to make themselves harder to track. The idea of abandoning all the Hirelings was a horrible one.

“I have darkvision for the rest of the night. How will you get by?”

“My senses are pretty good. If you recall, I knew where you were based on my hearing on the night we fought. I couldn’t hear the fact that you pointed a sword at my chest, but whatever. That was pitch black. The moon gives me a bit of light to see by tonight. Besides, stay close to me and I’ll be able to interpret some of your movements.”

said Virgil.

Achilles felt a little unsure, but he decided to trust Medea and began following the trail of the captain.

Bits of the man’s flamboyant outfit were snagged on branches and rocks, so with Achilles’s extra alertness, the trail through the forest was clear as day.

He called upon Virgil for two more points of AC, since he had already been hurt a bit during the first scuffle with the monkeys. He couldn’t gain any more from Virgil without risking corruption, but stacked with his father’s shield, he felt very well protected.

Medea was almost silent behind him, to the extent that Achilles kept wondering if she’d fallen behind.

Yet, every time he looked back, there she was in her leather armor, daggers drawn, stepping exactly in the same places Achilles did so as not to give the appearance of two people walking in case anyone tracked them.

Darkvision worked strangely compared to regular vision. It was very similar to seeing around him in daylight, but colors were very muted—though not completely gray—and shadows were very light.

Because of how things were neutralized, some rocks and leaves and things blended together when they were perfectly still.

Thankfully, there was enough of a breeze that most of the surrounding forest moved a bit, and Achilles was able to differentiate most objects.

There was a spot where it seemed the monkeys had tried to haul Captain Kestrel up a tree, but then had fallen down to the ground, for there were many broken branches in the shrubs underneath it. Bits of bright cloth were caught in all the branches.

“The monkeys tried to climb with him here,” Achilles said to Medea. “What do you make of that?”

“They obviously live in the trees, so we must be getting close.”

That made sense. Achilles looked higher into the tree branches above him.

A bit later, Achilles finally glimpsed a gigantic tree thicker than any he’d ever seen. Many shapes moved in its bare branches, though at that distance, Achilles could see no further details. “You see that giant shape in front of us? I’m sure that’s where the monkeys live.”

Medea nodded. “If were this close, then I’m sure that means—”

Achilles sensed a sneak attack!

He turned and tackled Medea to the ground just as a half-dozen thin spears whizzed over their heads!

Medea immediately understood what was happening and rolled into the underbrush, hiding herself.

But if he crouched down, Achilles knew he would be an easier target to hit, because it would be harder to dodge.

He stood and raised his shield to intercept several more spears that clattered against it. With his Alert ability to sense sneak attacks, every spear that came his way bounced harmlessly off his shield.

Seeing this, several monkeys jumped down from the trees and try to flank him from both sides.

Medea leaped out of the bushes like a wolf, grabbing one monkey and cutting his throat, then diving back into cover.

Achilles met two more monkeys head on, cutting them both in half with one slash.

He spun around, looking for more attackers. He heard chittering from the tree branches above, but no more monkeys attacked them. It really seemed like these creatures were cowards who were afraid to attack once they saw a few of their members die.

One of the thin spears flew up from the bushes and skewered a monkey in the chest!

Medea had been picking up the fallen spears, and now returned fire!

A flicker of system information told Achilles that Medea had used her Sneak Attack Weapon Art for that first spear, and also to ambush the first monkey she’d killed. As a Rogue, it seemed she could reuse that Weapon Art every time it successfully hit.

However, she was unlucky on her next attempt, and missed with every further spear. No matter what advantage she had from sneaking, she could still not see her targets very well.

But it seemed the monkeys were terrified that they could be hurt even while in the branches, and the rest of them jumped from branch to branch back to their gigantic tree.

Achilles was breathing hard from the adrenaline. Suddenly, a system element swirling in front of him caught his eye.

>

The Feat book appeared before Achilles, immediately flipping open to the appropriate page.

>

“A free Feat?” Achilles muttered to himself.

said Virgil.

Thinking of the swarm of monkeys waiting for them ahead, Achilles barely had to consider it.

He placed his hand upon the page, and 10 eldritch eyes vanished from him.

Achilles turned to Medea and smiled. “Ready to rescue our captain and kill some monkeys?”

She held a bundle of the fallen spears in one hand, each thinner than a finger. She returned his grin. “Always.”