“I fear what I cannot understand. I wake up in a cold sweat grasping at straws to understand what questions I should be asking. There is something deeper here, the magicks that be are changing before our eyes.” Merlev Hyne, Citizen of the World

Iyless grabbed the reins atop the Vysak and hopped up onto its back settling neatly into the saddle that he had strapped on earlier. The caves winded on and on with seemingly no end in sight. From behind him a group of other riders all assembled, the faithful that had stayed true to the cause.

“Iyless, I hope the escape has fared you better than us.”

A short and squat lizard-man rode up beside Iyless, brimming with enthusiasm and unconditional optimism.

“I am worried Branth, our kind has not touched the surface in… I could not even say.”

“I have hope, as should you. The Primordial Infant does not cast away his children easily, he will welcome us back with open arms. The divines shan’t strike us down just yet.”

Iyless eyed the caves carefully, eyes darting around the stone walls watching for the slightest movement. Branth sat lazily in the saddle, leaning back to grab something from the saddlebags before munching on a shriveled mushroom that had been sitting on his lap.

“It isn’t the divines that I’m worried about. Last I saw the humans, they almost wiped out our entire species. The act may have been just, but the ferocity in which they participated in the slaughtering was almost ravenous.”

Branth clasped Iyless’ shoulder, gripping it firmly and looking him dead in the eyes.

“Out there is our only chance.”

Kestel gripped his hand as he crested a hill overlooking a small village. He had wrapped it up, scared that if he even laid his eyes on it that it would freeze everything in sight. His legs were shaking, struggling with each step.

When he finally crossed the threshold and entered the town he sighed a breath of relief and approached the first person he saw.

“Excuse me, could you point me to the nearest inn?”

The giant of a figure shrugged off their hood revealing long dirty blonde locks and a grizzled face. Her muscled arms pushed her cloak out of the way and pointed down a cobbled road that looked like it hadn’t been cleaned since its inception.

“Ah... thank you.”

He quickly set down the street, not looking back to see whether the woman was still staring at him. Pushing open the heavy set door to the inn greeted him with a dark room, the tables and chairs were all stacked up into the corner without a care for order.

“Hello? I’m sorry for intruding but I was looking for a room.”

Kestel called out into the darkness hoping for a response while pushing his way past stacked crates of alcohol.

“I’ll be right with ye laddie.”

He sat down at a stool in front of the bar and waited in silence twiddling his thumbs. After only a few moments of waiting he heard a loud stomping coming from the stairs in the corner that he hadn’t seen before. A large man with a puffy beard hopped down the steps, he waddled over to the bar where he grabbed a cloth and began to wipe down the counter.

“So, what can I get ye?”

“W-Well, I was actually looking for a room. If you have one.”

“Oh a room, aye of got just the sort. If you’ve got the coin to pay for it.”

Kestel’s face went pale white. Coin! How could he have made such a blunder? He dug around in his increasingly shallow pockets and pulled out nothing more than a few scraps of cloth and a spare button.

“I don’t have any coin on me but perchance would you be up for a trade of sorts?”

“A trade ye say? Well I haven’t really got anything for you to do. Unless you’re up for some work along the lines of killin’”

“I’ve never killed a person before, but if that’s the price then I guess I could…”

“Ho ho ho. No lad, I meant a monster problem. If you get rid of the pests in my cellar, I might have the kindness in my heart to set you up with a room.”

Kestel nodded his head furiously, at this point he would do anything for a warm bed and a good night's sleep.

“Good! Good… Well I guess you should start right away. I wouldn’t want to keep you away from clean sheets.”

Both of the men stood up and began towards a trap door that sat tucked away beside the stairs. The innkeep stepped towards the trap door and heaved it open with a yawning creak. The gaping hole in the floor beckoned Kestel forward, that and the promise of a bed.

“Let’s hope this is fuckin’ worth it.”