The group reached the town around noon. The sun was just beginning to hit its zenith, still blazing in a cloudless sky. Beads of sweat trickled down Devin’s neck and under his leather armor. If he didn't know better, he would have assumed it was still mid summer. The splash of color in the leaves of the trees around him was the only indicator of autumn.

The outskirts of the town, if they could even be called that, were a couple of small houses along the road before a bend up ahead. The houses were shut up and no one came out to greet them, or even peer through the window to look at them. Devin could hardly blame them with the threat of bandits in the area.

As they neared the bend that would drop them straight into the small town, a familiar scent struck Devins nose. The sickly sweet smell of death and decay floated through the air. It was light, but still tangible enough to be familiar.

He glanced over at his group mates. Griff took a deep breath and frowned. Teryn was wrinkling her nose slightly and glancing into the woods around them. Maybe it was a dead animal or rot of the plant matter in the forest, but now was not the time to take any chances.

“Hold up,” he said and the group stopped. “Do the rest of you smell that?”

Griff grunted and started to look around. He unslung his shield from his back and strapped it to his left arm.

“Death rots the air,” Teryn said, grimacing slightly. Devin wondered for half a second if elves and half elves had a sharper sense of smell or if she was just sensitive to it. He would have to ask her that at a later time.

Shia took a big sniff and looked around at the others. “I can't smell anything.”

Murton shrugged. “Me neither lass. Dwarves have better eyesight and stamina than humans, but we lack in smelling power.”

“Let’s be careful. I may just be being paranoid, but I’d rather be alive and cautious than dead.’ Devin said. “Weapons out. We will go through the woods here and try to get a drop on the town in case anything has set up an ambush.”

They unsheathed and strung their weapons. Teryn closed her eyes and mumbled a few words, her hands starting to glow a slight blue.She opened her eyes which had started to tinge blue around their yellow iris as well.

The group stepped off the dirt path into the densely wooded forest. They crept through the trees until the path was out of sight. Devin held up his hand to stop them, then turned back south toward where the town would be. He pointed at Shia and Teryn and motioned them forward.

“I’m getting some deja vu from the last time we crept through the trees,” he heard Murton mumble to Griff. Griff snorted.

Devin shot them both a withering look and started to move toward the town with the two women. They flit between tree to tree as they approached, taking no chances. A few buildings started to become visible between the thick trunks. He motioned another stop and squatted down, Shia and Teryn followed suit.

“I am going to creep ahead and check if there is any danger. I won't leave the forest without either of you and I will signal if it is safe to approach. Good?”

They both nodded. He stood up and they each took a tree flanking this one. Devin crouched down low and crept up toward the edge of the forest. As he got nearer, the gaps between the trees widened and the town came into a fuller view. He approached a tree at the edge of the forest and slinked behind it. Peering out from behind it, he surveyed the town of Dinsk.

The town was not a very large one. The one main road ran into it and split at a right angle to a much smaller road, nearly in the middle of the town. Devin huddled on the northern side of town behind a two story wooden building that looked like a large inn. Windows ran in even spacing along its second floor and a single door and window led out the back on the first.

He looked around and found most of the buildings to be of the same style. Brown wood, likely harvested from the trees nearby, with wood shingled roofs painted green topping them. They were mostly one story in height, with what he assumed was a town hall of sorts the only other two story building.

He did not see any movement in the town at all. No smoke rose from any of the numerous chimneys and no movement flicked behind drawn curtains. He looked back at the two head poking out from the trees behind them and motioned them forward. Crouching low, they scuttled over to the tree he was at.

“I don't see anything,” he whispered. “It’s like the whole town just up and disappeared.”

Shia peered around the tree for a quick look while Teryn crinkled her face even further.

“What's wrong?” he asked.

“It smells worse closer to the town. I have a terrible feeling about this place,” she said as a disgusted frown took over.

“Here’s the plan. Teryn, you and I will creep forward and take each side of this tavern building. Shia, hang back here and keep an eye out for any movement in the town. Got it? Good.” With that Devin and Teryn whirled around the tree and started toward the two story building at as much of a run as they could manage while crouching.

Teryn went left and Devin took the right side of the inn. He threw himself toward the building and peered around the edge. Nothing moved in the town. Glancing back he saw Shia ready with the bow. To his left Teryn was looking at him, hugging the building just as he was. He gave her a single nod.

He watched her duck around the side and he followed suit on his side, keeping as close to the wall as he could without dragging against it. The rush of adrenaline that preceded any sort of action flowed through him, a warmth spreading from his chest into his limbs. The stench of rot grew stronger as he neared the edge of the building.

Hearing no sounds, he peeked around the side of the building and glanced down both ways of the road that ran through the town. There was still no movement throughout the entire town. He looked across the front of the building and saw Teryn glancing around as well. She caught his eye and he nodded to her.

They crept along the front of the building, shifting between watching the door and the town around them. The stillness of the air was near tangible, an oppressive weight hanging around them. Devin glanced through a window as he slid along and did not see any movement. The tavern looked undisturbed during his quick glance.

They reached the front door at the same time. He counted one, two, three silently and threw the door open. Devin charged through with his daggers, Thorn and Blossom at the ready. Teryn followed through with an icicle ready in her right hand, arm drawn back to throw.

The first thing that hit Devin was the stench. The overwhelming smell of death and rot nearly knocked him off balance as he drew his first breath inside the tavern. Beside him, Teryn made small retching noises and she fought to keep her stomach under control. A cursory look around confirmed what was creating the horrid smell.

Bodies, or at least parts of them, were sprawled on the floor and hidden under tables. Limbs poked out from behind the serving counter. Devin saw pieces of what he assumed were the town folk scattered around the room, placed just so he would not have seen them through the window without taking a seriously long look.

“What in all the hells would do something like this?” he asked quietly.

Teryn shook her head and fled out the front door. Devin fought the bile rising in his throat and started to look around.

Behind the serving counter he went through a swinging half door into the kitchen. He found more body parts haphazardly strewn about. Several hands and feet were floating in a cooking pot, bloated and pale. He guessed these people had been dead at least several days now, looking at the state of their decay.

He left the kitchen and started up the stairs toward the guest rooms. Around the main floor, body parts amounting to at least a dozen different people were scattered. He reached a small landing and turned to finish his flight up, when he heard a cry outside.

“Devin!” Teryn shouted.

He flew down the stairs in two steps and rushed toward the door. Dashing back into the sunlit street he saw Teryn hunched over, a small pile of her breakfast at her feet, pointing down the street.

A man in leather armor was fleeing a building and running down the street. Devin took off toward the man, sprinting to try to catch up. Glancing back, the runner let out a startled yelp and started to draw a sword as he ran. He turned away from the road and toward the forest.

Devin cursed as he ran. He was quicker, but would not be fast enough to catch him before the dense woods offered a potential getaway. There was a small whiz through the air and the man shouted, falling to the ground.

Devin easily caught up to him and saw an arrow shaft sticking from the man's thigh. The injured man raised his sword in a feeble defense and Devin quickly flicked it out of his hands with his daggers. The man tried to start crawling but Devin placed a dagger at the mans throat, right beneath the bandana he wore.

He heard footsteps approaching behind him and glanced back to see Shia running over, bow in hand and face red with excitement.

“I got him! I got the little bastard!” she said as she came over.

“Nice shot,” Devin said, still watching the man on the ground as he groaned in pain. He had given up trying to crawl away and instead held his pierced leg with both hands.

“I heard Teryn shout and figured that was a good enough signal as any to come on in,” Shia said, looking over the man she shot.

“Who are you and what happened to the people of this town?” Devin asked, pushing the knife a little closer to the man's throat. He felt the man swallow, his knife bucking just slightly.

“Yo-you don't know who you’re messing with! I’m a member of the Gilded Foxes. You can't kill me and get away with it. Tintin will hunt you down and find you if you hurt me!” The man’s words spilled out in a rush, gasping between each breath.

“I’d say we already hurt you. Since this Tintin will apparently kill us for hurting you, I’m not terribly afraid of killing you.” Devin kept Thorn at the man's throat and placed Blossom on his inner thigh. “Or perhaps just maiming yours for life.”

The man paled and gulped again, Thorn bucking again. “You don't know what you're doing, you can't kill me, please. Please don't do anything else to me. I swear I didn’t have anything to do with this. I just joined the gang and they had me come here to sweep for any valuables they might’ve forgotten. Please, you have to believe me.”

Devin rolled his eyes as tears started to pour from the prone man.

“What's your name?” he asked.

“Jeff,” the man answered.

“Well Jeff, it's your lucky day then. I am not much in the killing mood and just had my knives cleaned. If you tell me everything I need to know I don't see any reason you can't walk away from here.”

“Oh, thank you, kind sir,” Jeff said, still sniffing.

“You’re just going to let him go?” Shia asked in disbelief. Devin raised his hand to cut her off and started to open his mouth when he heard more footsteps and crashing.

“I’ll gut ya like the cur bellied swine you are!” Murton came thundering around the tavern, giant axe held high in front of him. Griff followed close behind, shield and hammer both ready. Murton looked around wildly and saw Teryn, still hunched over next to her vomit, and let out a guffaw.

“Still got that silk stomach elf?” he taunted. She responded with a rather rude gesture involving several fingers. Murton chuckled again and looked over toward Devin, Shia, and their prisoner. His eyes grew wide and he charged over, axe held high.

Jeff started to scream incoherent pleads and cries as the dwarf started to shout as he neared. With a mighty leap he jumped toward the prone man and swung his axe down. It sank several inches into the dirt, just a hair's breadth from the man's crotch. Jeff's shouts weakened into whimpering sobs that shook his whole body.

“Ha ha! Stupid little bugger pissed himself!” Murton guffawed again and withdrew his axe from the dirt. Shia frowned at him.

“Got a problem with what I did there?” he challenged her, after seeing her glare.

“Yeah, I do actually. It’s entirely inappropriate to shove a blade into the rocky ground like that. You’ll weaken it and wear it down faster than anything else. It's just poor weapon discipline.” She stood before him now, arms crossed.

Murton's face reddened and he started to bluster, “As if I’ll have some youngin’ human tell me what I can and can't do with my axe!”

“All right, we can finish this later. We have a more pressing issue at this moment,” Devin wiggled his dagger at Jeff's throat, who still lay sobbing quietly.

The paladin and archer stopped their bickering and turned back toward Devin and his captive, though they still threw glares at one another.

“Now,” Devin said softly to the man, “Tell us more about this Tintin and the Gilded Foxes. Where can we find them?”

With a shaking hand the man pointed into the woods to the west. “They set up a camp a few miles in the woods that way.”

Devin nodded. Teryn and Griff ambled over, Griff lending his arm to support Teryn who looked pale.

“You can't kill them though,” Jeff continued, “There are too many of them and they’ll just shoot you on sight if you try to walk in.”

“I don’t plan on killing them, just having a little talk with them. After that talk though, who knows what could happen?” Devin grinned at the terrified man. Murton let out another chuckle, his anger from moments earlier quickly forgotten.

Devin pulled his knives from the man's throat and inner thigh, sheathing Blossom but keeping Thorn ready. He reached down with his free hand and pulled the man to his feet, standing up with him.

“Thank you so much for sparing me, I promise you won't regret it. I’ll leave right away and start over-”

“Oh, we are not done with you yet, Jeff. You are going to guide us into Tintin’s camp so we can have that little chat with him about this town.” Devin stepped behind the man and gave him a small jab with the dagger. Jeff yelped and hopped forward a foot.

“But, I can't, you can't. If I show up there with you they’ll just kill us all! You said you wouldn’t kill me!” Jeff sputtered, tears welling in his eyes again.

Devin shrugged, “And I will hold myself to that. I can’t account for anything this leader you follow might do. Now I suggest you start taking us there. The sooner we get there the sooner we can leave.”

The man looked around helplessly at the crew.

“And don't think about taking off or my friend here,” Devin waved at Shia, who still had her bow in hand, “Will take you down again.”

Jeff looked at her, then down at his leg where the shaft still stuck out. A look of relief passed over his face and he fell to his unwounded knee, clutching at the wounded leg.

“I’m not going to be able to walk, that woman shot me in my leg. If I walk it might bleed out and kill me anyways!”

Griff grabbed the man by the back of his shirt and hefted him up. Jeff’s feet kicked as he was lifted then set back down. Shia knelt to inspect his leg.

“You’ll be fine. It didn't hit anything major, just stuck in the muscle. You won't bleed out, though it’ll hurt like a bitch as you walk.” She straightened and started toward the west.

Devin jabbed his knife out a little toward Jeff who looked around helplessly again. Murton laughed softly and started to head west. Teryn quickly followed, eager to get away from the stench of the town. Griff growled behind the man.

Jeff winced at Griff then walked around him, following the others west with a pronounced limp. Devin watched the man and chuckled softly. He was sure if the opportunity presented itself, the man would lose that limp and take off in a hurry. You could always trust a coward to look after themselves above all else.