"What in the actually haunted forest?" Bursts from my lips.

Both Bones and wolf thing are looking at me. When my initial shock clears, I can process more of what is happening.

The wolf person has a pitch black cloak covering most of her body. Her actual fur is a lighter shade of black except for her head which is a deep shade of black. Big green eyes and sharp teeth complete her toothy grin, which almost seems to glow in contrast. She stands taller than Bones, putting her a bit taller than me. Strong muscle covers her body, barely kept hidden by her fur. Her most impressive feature is that she isn't real. Or at least she gives off the illusion she isn't real. Like she is a ghost or a projection.

"Greetings, lich. I am Genevieve, Queen of the Shamans and last of the Lycanians," She says with a light growl accent catching me off guard and creating more questions.

Before I have a chance to chime in, Bones responds casually. "Good evening Gene. Eh, hope you don't mind the name upgrade I gave you."

"Sure, butcher my name to your heart's content. Well, if you had a heart." Gene responds mildly irritated.

"Hey, hey now. Show a little respect for the dead. Too soon." I say, ignoring the heartless slight and trying to ease any tension out of the conversation.

Bones speaks up again as soon as I finish my sentence. "Yeah, too soon." He wags his finger admonishingly. "Also, show some respect for butchers. It is a respectable line of work that takes skill and craft. Not that you would appreciate those finer things." And with that, my efforts are wasted. Fortunately, Gene shows no aggression towards Bones' slight.

"Hearts are overrated anyway." Bones continues to bury his words with more words. "Who needs them? Definitely not me. I'm not a frail metal object trying to feel my way through life. I am a robust pile of bones. I know my life and my purpose, thank you. Besides, I can't be blamed for my lack of heart. Don't think my minion over there can give me heart. It could be the reason why I'm a ruthless boss. Clearly, the fault is with him. "

At this point, Gene looks somewhat confused and slightly more offended. Bones' finer things remark before he got stuck on his lack of heart was borderline speciest. If that is a thing…It's probably a thing. That's the thing about things. There is always one.

"Hold on. You mean to say that you are the boss?" The wolf woman asks as she points at Bones. "And you, the minion," now pointing at me, "summoned the boss?"

Bones gives me a bemused look. "I like this one. She's sharp. Also, she's the only other person we've met that isn't currently trying to eat us so that easily puts her at the top of the list. You aren't trying to eat my summoner, are you? That could put a big wrinkle in this conversation."

"To be fair, I don't think our other lady friend was going to eat me," I say a little late as the conversation has already moved on.

"Not at all, not at all. No, I'm here to make an offer." Any previous tension is nowhere to be found in Gene's friendlier tone.

"We accept!" Bones blurts out, grinning like a fool.

"You accept?" Befuddled wolf woman asks back.

"Sure." Bones, without hesitating, doubles down on his acceptance.

"Well then, come to the highest peak on the mountain range and follow the southern ridge line down. You will come upon a game trail about two miles from the peak. Follow that until you reach the cave. Journey through the cave until you find me." Existing seems to be a struggle for our new spirit friend, and mid explanation, she starts fading starting at her legs.

"Climb the mountains and descend on the south ridge. Follow the animal trail and then stroll through a cave. Got it. Then we meet you and a host of spirits that will devour our souls. Sounds simple enough."

"Unfortunately, my kinsmen all perished hundreds of years ago. Their spirits are trapped. You accepted to help them in their journey to the next stage." Only the upper half of Gene's body remains now. "However, do not idle too long. A far more dangerous threat approaches from the Dry Coast. I fear if it reaches me before you two, then there will be a much greater threat to life on this island than spiders."

"Definitely sounds like devouring ghosts, doesn't it, Cap?"

"Oh, so now I get to weigh in?"

Bones gives me a curious look and replies, "Well, what was stopping you from weighing in before? Me and Gene are on a first name basis and passing out quests and rewards—" he looks at Gene. "There are rewards, right?"

Gene nods her head emphatically with a smile. Almost too creepy. I can't wait to devour you, kind of smile. Adding to the creepiness is her ever-fading body, of which three-quarters is now gone. She must have realized her grin because she quickly changed her expression to a slightly less sketchy grin.

Still, on beat, Bones keeps talking. "—like it is cheap currency."

Time with our spirit friend is fading, yet I can't help but take Bones' bait. "How am I supposed to chime in when you speak a thousand words a minute? You don't even pause to breathe. There is no stop, just word after word after word. And then, when there is a lull in a conversation, you're already making a deal with a wolf that didn't even bother dressing in its finest wool. No offense Queen Shaman."

"I'm sorry to depart and that I didn't explain more." The queen ignores our conversation finishing out her own agenda. "The fault is clearly yours." She is looking at us both. "Follow my directions and come quickly. I can no longer sta—" She vanishes just like that.

"Huh, she sure is one for the theatrics. Vanishing before finishing sentences seems a little overkill. Sorry I called you my minion, by the way. I was disgusted with myself the moment it escaped. It won't happen again." Bones says.

"I agree, actually. Not even a goodbye. You think you meet a new friend, and then she ups and wisps herself away. You know, if I'm going to blame someone, it's definitely going to be laid at you. Who accepts an offer without hearing the offer first? No worries about calling me a minion. Peacocks going to peacock. I appreciate the apology, though."

"First, as the boss, I'll take the blame. That's what good bosses do. Second badass bosses accept quests on a whim. It's part of the lure and mystery. Third, I don't know what you are talking about. Peacock? Is that like a dragon? "

"Do dragons fall under the bird species?" I ask, sincerely questioning dragon classifications.

"How would I know?"

"I don't know, boss. You surprise me with your knowledge. How should I know what you got indexed? Surely they are in the same class, at least. So yeah, think of them as the most elegant of dragons. The kind of dragons you'd invite to fancy parties and stuff. "

"Like a school? That doesn't sound like my type of dragon."

"More like a flock. And Correct me if I'm wrong, Bones... Since when do bosses take orders? They give them. Right?"

"That's different. This is a quest. Probably an epic quest by the sounds of it."

"Feels like an order. Climb the mountains. Find a cave. Enter a dark cave. Don't waste time. Yeah, you definitely demoted yourself to common grunt. After all my hard work to get you promoted too."

Bones looks like he is thinking what I said over. With a disappointed look, he blurts out loudly. "Dagum! That no good bipedal wolf ghost thing really did usurp my bossness. And to think I worked so hard to get us to where we are and now—" Bones comes to a hard stop before finishing. "all that is gone. I'm an order-taking grunt.

"Well, let's finish cleaning up and prepare for your pilgrimage into the hills. Time's ticking, and we have nothing to lose. And you could use a break from these eight-legged monsters.

"Oh, and good work with the slaughter. I don't think the spiders will be coming back here anytime soon. At least not till they get a much bigger army. That's why I will be here to keep them from spreading deeper. I could use the extra practice with the new limbs anyways."

I start absorbing the remaining spiders, adding mana to my bronze core. A process made much easier now with my upgraded core. Not only is there more room in my core for the mana, the actual absorbing process is becoming more passive. "Sounds like you accepted this quest and now are backing out of it." I pipe in after clearing away a particularly large spider.

"No, not backing out. Just delegating. Like a boss. You take the pilgrimage. I continue to cleanse the forest. If you think about it, I am sacrificing this amazing experience on your behalf. Besides, I don't think it qualifies as a pilgrimage if it isn't solo."

"Well… why does it need to be a pilgrimage in the first place? I'm pretty sure that was never stated in the Lycan's quest. And out of the two of us, I'm the only one that has already pilgrimaged. At this point, it is starting to get a bit repetitive." Before Bones can counter, I throw up a gate. "And don't come at me with your little trek to discover a cave. It doesn't count as a pilgrimage if it isn't longer than ten miles, bare minimum."

He takes a moment before he counters. "If you have to ask why you need a pilgrimage, you probably need a pilgrimage."

Dang, it. Well played, boss. Stupid gates only work if people are trying to get in. However, I am not going to admit that. "I don't think you can jumble words together and present it as a fact."

"Sure I can. That is another part of being a boss. You wouldn't know. Here's another fact for you. Facts are just compiled words jumbled together by logic. With enough logic and jumbling, anything can become a fact."

"I'm not arguing that. I know that you know that what you said is fundamentally wrong. Scratch that; I'm taking the bait. Facts are truth. You can't arrange words expecting to create truth. Truth just is."

"Look, Cap, you'll have to give up some ground. You can't gatekeep pilgrimages, facts, and now truth."

"Nonsense, I can keep all three simultaneously if they share the same grounds. Just consider me an expert guard. And being the expert guardian that I am makes me the perfect candidate to stay behind and watch over the forest."

"That's why I need to stay behind. You've already got the guard skills down. I need practice. You can't deny that you sleep better knowing I am watching over you. Just think of the deep sleep you will experience when I'm at prime guardian status."

"If you are open to feedback, I'd say your bigger weakness is dealing with facts and truth. The sort of thing pilgrimages are perfect for."

"Truth is only a matter of perspective. Anything becomes true if you believe hard enough. Besides, this will be a good way to test our connection. How far can you get before it affects me? How far can we communicate and that kind of stuff? You know the kind of stuff bosses should know about their followers."

"Listen, Bones, if you feel inept due to lack of rank, I understand. Not everyone is Queen or King. But just because you aren't King doesn't make you any less special."

"This has nothing to do with my rank. Besides, I'm pretty sure boss outranks King and Queen. That's the way of being boss."

"Sure, sure," I reply, now grinning.

Bones lets out what seems like an angry humph and then stands in a stoic pose with hands on hips and one leg resting on a spider corpse. The extra arms are tucked into the regular arms adding more bulk to his posture. Admittedly, he does look pretty boss. Maybe just missing a cloak and a hat.

Nothing else is said, and Bones doesn't move until I absorb the last remaining spider corpse, which happens to be his personal leg stand. I'm not even mad about the solo clean-up effort. For one, as a mouthy insubordinate, I deserve the self-assigned work detail. If anything, I am getting off easy. Not only that, there were only dozens of spiders left to clean. Boss probably would have just been in the way.

Despite not liking how close the spiders were to our home, knowing we will be home quickly is nice. A short trip later, we are back in the den. We pack up enough food rations, including dried meat, white pine biscuits, and a mixed bag of dried berries, nuts, and mushrooms, for a few weeks of journeying. All the food is placed into a makeshift bag I create from my upgraded web skill. Slinging webs might not be the fiercest skill, but it is practical.

Credit to Bones. He has brought me a wealth of food storage, evidenced by my full pack and the containers still mostly full of food. The skeleton does wonders when it comes to gathering and hunting food.

I strap my bow to the bag, then sling the bag over my back. Stepping out of the cave, I make it a solid ten steps, note the lack of light, and promptly turn back to my cave. Back in my den, I take off my pack and lay down for the night.

From what I know about quests and pilgrimages, which admittedly is nothing, it is vital to get a good night's sleep beforehand. Before I fall asleep, a few minutes are spent meditating and reflecting on the day.

Sparse thoughts are given to the turn of events, and the trap I am most certainly walking into disguised as a quest. Boss has a solid point. We don't have much to lose. With him hanging back, I am not worried that the spider population will get out of control. And it will be an excellent time to test our connection.

Worn out from the day and my mental exercises, I let my mind shut off and quickly fall asleep.